The provisional agenda for the annual conference of Unison, the 1.2 million- strong public service union, contains more than two dozen motions attacking Labour on key policies. Other unions are expected to join the chorus of disapproval as soon as the election is out of the way. By mutual agreement Labour affiliates are currently "keeping their heads down".Unison members are mainly angry at the pronouncement by Gordon Brown, the shadow Chancellor, that he would stick to the Government's policy on public expenditure.While senior Unison officials will argue that many of the critical motions for the conference in Brighton on 10 June have been tabled by the far left, there are misgivings among the membership over Labour's devotion to tight monetary policies.Even the union's relatively moderate national executive committee has tabled a proposition which registers implicit opposition to Labour's policies. It demands a properly funded state sector: "Quality public services do not come cheap. The public cannot have European levels of public services at American levels of taxation."The committee says it willmount a "vigorous campaign" against the pay bill freeze to which Mr Brown intends to adhere.. The first televised election debate between the party leaders in a British election will go ahead, senior Tory Party sources said last night, in spite of a row over John Major's refusal to appear with Paddy Ashdown, the Liberal Democrat leader.
Mr Major was accused of a "cynical ploy" by Labour and the Liberal Democrats after he announced that he was ready to hold a series of televised debates with Tony Blair, but not Mr Ashdown, during the election campaign in an attempt to break Labour's overwhelming lead in the opinion polls. His refusal to hold a three-way debate threatened to scupper the plan. Mr Major may be told within the next 48 hours to back down or take the blame. But senior Tories were calculating on the broadcasters reaching a compromise to satisfy all sides. The broadcasters told the Liberal Democrats their legal advisers have warned that if Mr Ashdown was not part of the televised debates, they would be breaking the Representation of the People Act, which requires "due impartiality and fairness" in election broadcasting."We don't want this to be seen as the Liberal Democrats calling off a democratic spectacle," a Liberal Democrat spokesman said. "It is Major who is laying down obstacles for the broadcasters.
They have told us their legal advice is that we would have to be in it. It looks like Major is happy to debate with Blair but is afraid of debating with Paddy."Labour and the Liberal Democrats accused the Tories of laying down impossible terms for the debate to prevent it going ahead. Conservative Central Office sources last night confirmed that Mr Major would not go "head to head" in a debate with Mr Ashdown.Brian Mawhinney, the Conservative Party chairman, ruled out a Major-Ashdown debate on BBC1's On the Record programme yesterday, saying Mr Major was prepared to have a series of debates, but they would have to be "prime ministerial" debates.Asked if Mr Major was going to debate with Mr Ashdown, Dr Mawhinney said: "No - we're talking [about] a choice of two futures, not a choice of three futures, and a choice of two possible prime ministers, not a choice of three possible prime ministers. I think the people want to hear, to see, to have the opportunity themselves to judge from the mouths of the two men, one of whom will be leader of this country after the general election."Labour's campaign manager, Peter Mandelson, said he wanted to see the debates go ahead but did not think they would. Speaking on LWT's Crosstalk programme, he said: "I think the Prime Minister is being typically two- faced about this. He claims he wants a debate but behind the scenes he is putting every obstacle in the way to prevent one happening." He said the Mr major was trying to choose "tame hand-picked" broadcasters to ask the questions.The Scottish National Party said its leader, Alex Salmond, should be included in any television debate shown in Scotland. And Dafydd Wigley, leader of Plaid Cymru, said there should be "structures" to enable the minor parties to take part..
John Major will go to Buckingham Palace this morning to ask the Queen for a dissolution of Parliament to trigger the general election on 1 May. There is expected to be a White House-style press conference in the garden of 10 Downing Street for Mr Major to announce his plans to the nation, followed by a statement to the Commons later in the day. Then hard bargaining begins over the Bills which have yet to receive Royal Assent. The only one likely to cause trouble is the Home Office Bill on minimum sentences, softened by Labour peers, which the Government is determined to overturn. If Jack Straw, the shadow home secretary, refuses to allow it to be changed and nodded through, the Tories will accuse Labour of being soft on crime.Once the horse-trading is over, the House of Commons will rise on 25 or 26 March, after a Labour-initiated debate, and the last session of Prime Minister's Questions, for a short recess for Easter.
The dissolution of Parliament could take place a week earlier than expected, on or just after 1 April, because the Tories believe they will have a better chance of closing the Labour lead with a longer campaign to target their attack on Tony Blair.The Major campaign bus could start rolling on 2 April with seven campaign rallies before polling day - the first on 4 April at the Royal Albert Hall, scene of the Union flag extravaganza on the last night of the Proms.. It has become the high noon of the modern political process in the United States. Two candidates - on one occasion three - deprived of their minders, spinners and speech consultants and thrown before the lights and the cameras for 90 minutes to show off the qualities that makes one better than the other. Richard Nixon first saw the extraordinary opportunity offered by live television in 1960. Just barely ahead of John F Kennedy in the race for the White House, he agreed to what became the first presidential debate. Decades later, the television debate has taken root as a key quadrennial ritual on the US political scene. And now, it seems, the tradition is crossing the Atlantic. That night, of course, became infamous and still vividly illustrates how a television debate can divert the flow of an election.
