A MORI poll puts Labour in London on 59 per cent the Tories

A MORI poll puts Labour in London on 59 per cent, the Tories on 27 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 10 per cent.. The total population of sentenced and remand prisoners will reach 74,500 by 2005, an increase of 19,200 from the average 1996 population of 55,300, according to the latest long-term Home Office projections, published yesterday. The figures do not take account of the estimated effects of the heavier sentencing provisions in the Crime (Sentences) Act. According to the Prison Service’s short-term predictions, the current jail population of 59,356 will rise to 62,000 by the end of August.. Union leaders yesterday fell over themselves to deny allegations that they had taken a secret vow of silence during the election so as not to embarrass Labour. The accusation was made in yesterday’s Daily Mail which said that union general secretaries would be “as mute as Trappist monks” during the hustings.
The paper said that leading trade unionists agreed at a meeting two weeks ago to remain silent in case they detracted from the support the party seems to be attracting in Middle England.Senior union officials described the front-page story as “rubbish”, arguing that most of the time the media was not interested in their views on the general election.Bill Morris, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, said it was full of “speculation and misrepresentation” and challenged the newspaper to grant him space to tell readers why they should be supporting “New Labour”.He said: “Far from keeping silent during this election campaign I have a full schedule of commitments to take part in meetings around the country.” Mr Morris was due to be interviewed on television last night to give his views on the Labour manifesto.Rodney Bickerstaffe, leader of public service union Unison, denied there had been any agreement and said he would be taking part in the hustings. Mr Bickerstaffe has, however, been more circumspect about his support for the Labour Party than most union leaders, because Unison has two political funds, one of which is entirely independent of Labour.John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB general union, said it was “ridiculous” to suggest there had been any conspiracy “This election is about politics, not union leaders.

We will be doing our best to help Labour,” Mr Edmonds said.Lew Adams, leader of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, who was among those said by the Mail to have taken the vow of “Omerta”, would be launching a campaign in his union’s journal urging members to vote Labour. Mr Adams wrote in a recent edition that he was sceptical about Labour’s promises to reform employment law.Roger Lyons, leader of the MSF manufacturing union, was on holiday yesterday, but when he returned would be meeting his members in marginal constituencies, a spokesman said. “That is hardly the activity of a Trappist monk.”Despite their denials however, it is clear that union leaders are not as “high profile” as they have been in previous elections. That is partly because they acknowledge they could be more of an electoral hindrance than help. Tony Blair, the Labour leader, is also keen to put considerable distance between the party and unions.Nevertheless, it is unlikely there has been any formal agreement to keep silent.What has been clear over the last few years is that there has been an unspoken pact between the two wings of the movement over policies. The party has told unions they could have their union recognition laws and a national minimum wage provided they did not wield their block vote to disrupt the change from Old to New Labour.The Labour leadership has been keen to keep unions on board because of they provide most of the party’s funds. Union officials are also active in canvassing and provide administrative back-up..

The Red Flag is being unfurled in South Wales where Arthur Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party’s is taking on “turncoat” Alan Howarth. Mr Howarth, the Tory MP who in 1995 crossed the floor to join Labour has been given Newport East, a constituency which looks as safe and solidly new Labour as the imposing Lysaght Institute, where the SLP leader launched his campaign for a seat in parliament.
Ironically, the institute is something of a monument to capitalism; the Lysaght family were once powerful steel masters in the area.From a stage in the institute’s ballroom, backed by ruched, peach-coloured curtains which looked as though they had been borrowed from the set of Strictly Ballroom, the Australian film in which the Terpsichorean old guard gets its comeuppance, Mr Scargill delivered a vintage performance.The National Union of Mineworkers’ president told an audience of nearly 200 that he had decided to stand because Mr Howarth had been a member of a Conservative Party bitterly opposed to trade unionism in general and the miners in particular.”Was my decision to stand in Newport East personal?” he boomed rhetorically. “You bet your life it’s personal.”Mr Scargill lashed new Labour at regular intervals during a speech lasting almost an hour. “It’s said you can’t put a cigarette paper between Tory and Labour policies. I wouldn’t contaminate a cigarette paper by trying to,” he said. The choice in the constituency was between a Tory mark one, a Tory mark two (Mr Howarth) and a true Socialist.Question time brought Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West to his feet.

In a Daniel in the Lions’ Den performance he defended the man who, barring a political earthquake, is destined to become MP for Newport East on 1 May.”If I had been asked to name MPs who commanded most respect, I would have named Alan Howarth. I’ve been stirred by Arthur on several occasions but when you look back at the destruction of a great industry and a great union, the union must shoulder some of the responsibility,” Mr Flynn said. There were growls of dissent when he affirmed: “A Labour government is infinitely better than any Tory government.”Bitter words flew across a floor more accustomed to dancing than political invective. Declaring he would switch to the SLP, John Cooksey, a GMB union convenor sacked recently by the local council, asked irately: “How did we manage to get Howarth?”The answer, as Mr Flynn pointed out later, was that the Stratford-Upon- Avon MP won selection on the first ballot in a one-member one-vote contest conducted under the sort of security which makes new Labour seem as fireproof as Fort Knox.The inauguration of Mr Scargill as one of the SLP’s 60 or so standard bearers on 1 May produced a handful – perhaps a dozen – new recruits, and a parade of left-wing newspaper-sellers..