Letter: Blair's betrayal of Labour's roots

TONY BLAIR decrees unions should be recognised only if 40 per cent of the workforce votes for them ("Union fury...", 10 May), yet his own party was mandated by a simple majority of whoever bothered to vote.

The Labour Party was created as the political face of the union movement and Blair is betraying his own inheritance. Why should he and the CBI be fearful of unions when 40 of the top 50 UK firms are union-organised?

Trade unions are the last vestige of workplace democracy, yet as we move into Blair's "Second Industrial Revolution" we now see that we are not dealing with a democratic party. Blair's message is "Do as I say, not as I do!" Those of us who have prayed for common sense for so many years will never forgive this final insult.

Michael Madden

London SW7