Before every European Union summit the British government briefs the press on a set of red-lines which it promises to stand firm on. These are self-imposed tests which the government knows it will pass but as the summit goes on, the line is spun that the red line are under attack. But it always works out in the end and the Prime Minister returns to reassure the nation that no ground has been given. All this is designed as a smokescreen to distract attention from the myriad of other issues where the government has given way.
I suspect much the same is going on with Gordon Brown and the Unions. In advance of Labour’s National Policy Forum at the end of the month, Brown keeps stressing that there will be no return to secondary picketing; distracting attention from all the other possible concessions he might offer Labour’s paymasters.
When at today’s news conference Sam Coates of The Times asked him to guarantee that there would be no concessions given to the Unions, Brown launched into a little speech about secondary picketing. Nothing else was mentioned despite the fact we know the Unions have a whole host of other demands including the right to conduct strike ballots by email, making it more expensive to sack staff and extending the minimum wage to apprentices.
The refusal to give in on secondary picketing will be marched out to prove that there has been no return to the 1970s. Meanwhile, if things go according to plan, the Unions will have pocketed a bunch of very useful policy promises without anybody noticing.
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