Blair attacks 'self-indulgent' militants

The union movement's increasingly powerful "awkward squad" was given a public roasting by Tony Blair yesterday, who attacked its left-wing rhetoric as "self indulgent".

Delivering a defiant message to his union critics, the Prime Minister declared that his "New Labour" project had been the route to victory and remained the party's best chance of success.

Mr Blair's speech was greeted with silence by many of the 700 delegates at the annual TUC congress, including Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT rail union and arguably the most militant leader. Mr Crow said after the speech: "He claims that he wants a strong, vibrant trade union movement but he certainly doesn't want one with any power. He didn't mention the railway workers in his speech and he didn't mention the firefighters, who are on the brink of a national strike."

The Prime Minister's attack on the left came after a barrage of invective from left-wing delegates on Iraq, public-private partnerships and amid strong dissension over the TUC's pro-euro line.

Mr Blair said that if Britain turned its back on Europe it would be "an error of vast proportions". If the five economic tests drawn up by the Chancellor were met, he said, Britain should join the euro.

"For Britain to be marginalised in Europe, when soon the European Union will have 25 members stretching from Portugal to Poland and the largest commercial market in the world, would not just be economically unwise. It would betray a total misunderstanding of the concept of national interest in the 21st century."

The Prime Minister said it would be ironic if, after 18 years of being "kicked from pillar to post", trade unions turned their back on social partnership with a Labour government. "Partnership doesn't make headlines but the vast majority of trade union leaders and members know it does far more good than a lot of self-indulgent rhetoric from a few that belongs quite frankly in the history books. Indulgence or influence. It's a very simple choice," he said.

There was genuine concern about low pay among public-sector workers and understandable calls for more protection for workers but not all such demands could be met. However, a Labour government making steady progress was "infinitely better" than a Conservative administration taking the country backwards. "New Labour was the route to victory. It remains the only proven path to continue it.''

He acknowledged that employees were concerned about their pensions, particularly the abolition in some companies of final-salary schemes.

He conceded that public-sector unions were anxious about two-tier workforces, with the private sector undercutting the public. The Government was introducing rules so that new recruits enjoyed broadly comparable pay and conditions with local government employees transferred to the private sector.