So basically public contracts will not be awarded to the companies who agree the best prices/services but only to those who behave subserviently to Labour's paymasters. This is the single most corrupt piece of legislation I can remember from this Labour Government.

Wade, London, UK

My company has noticed an increasing level of what can only be described as corruption in the buying of local government services over the last two years.

Basically, if you aren't 'one of them' you don't get any public sector work now.

Gerald Dyson, Cheshire,

MD, Milton Keynes,

Companies have everything to fear from unions, as their leaders are not interested in the welfare of their members - they are interested in causing trouble for any management team, just because they can. It's not been about worker protection for years, it's all about class wars.

Alex, London,

The final piece of the jigsaw that was needed to make this government as despicable as the last labour government in the 70s - give the unions too much power so they can drag the country to a standstill.

Alex, London,

Tom B,
The middle class of America has been destroyed by the lack of union membership? I would say that the middle class of America is alive and thriving thanks to the lack of union interference (my husband is American). Welcome the return of 1970's Britain.

Anita S, Worthing, UK

The destruction of the influence of UK Trades Unions in the eighties was the single biggest improvement to the country's fortunes for decades. Companies will just pay lip service to this squalid deal, while Union influence continues to fester in the Public Sector. And that's no threat to anyone.

Jon Anderson, Farnham, UK

So the Government has finally admitted that it can't teach reading and writing at school and will look to employers to do it instead. What a shambles

Steve, Bromley, UK

Let's see - undocumented contributions to MPs are a scandal, but unions 'sponsor' MPs and give literally millions of pounds to bankroll labour and demand policies in return. The party is broke and effectively bankrupt. Brown doesn't do 'the vision thing'. The economy is tanking. Time for a change.

Tim B, Atlanta, GA, USA

J Smith, unions performed a pivotal role in the years following their inception to improve standards and save lives, no question. Union reform was vital following the crazy 70s and the potty 80s when some 'leaders' used their members for their own agendas. I do not agree that people are scared.

Rob B, Olney, England

"Trade union movement". That's an oxymoron. More apt would be "trade union standstill".

Rob B, Olney, England

Let's be in no doubt, the actions taken in the 80s laid the foundations for the country we are today on which the house of "teflon" Tony was built and that the lamentable Brown is now demolishing but doesn't understand how and why.

Rob, Bracknell,

Farcical. Labour can't even manage there own finances, never mind the country's. I wonder, can the Labour party be treated like any company? i.e. are they allowed to trade while insolvent? Can Labour party creditors apply for them to be wound up? Please??

richard lees, Ashton-under-Lyne, England

god for the unions, go on boys, squeeze Gutless Gordon to death, that'll teach him to try to be Tory-Lite

peter c, devizes, wessex

Labour seem to think they are unpopular because they aren't being left wing enough. The truth is they are now an old Labour government and people hate it. They'll ruin the economy and be back in opposition.

philip, London,

Hi Rob, Interesting take on the history of the trade union movement in the 80s. People are now too frightened for their jobs to join unions, and in any case the unions are now weak. Look back 100 years and see what they have done for us, though. Checks and balances are needed for a strong economy.

J Smith, Ellesmere Port,

Surely not even the bankrupt Gordon Brown is stupid enough to allow unions to again influence the UK economy. If he is then I suspect his moderate colleagues will recognise the danger and remove him. If they don't they will be massacred at the next election.

A.Williams, Cradley Heath,

J Smith, Ellesmere you're more than a century out of date in your thinking, as are the unions. Thank goodness the one leader of courage in the past 50 years fixed the problem.

Tom B, CA, US unions are a lot different to UK unions. It is not by accident they're known as the looney left here.

Rob B, Olney, England

I am a highly paid professional and represented by a union, recently we suffered a major setback with potential outsourcing of our jobs. We tried the courts etc but were stymied by a new and untried piece of obscure european legislation, trust me the 'Unions' are NOT a bunch of ignorant people.

Andrew, Hove, UK

And why is the level of disposable income so low Dave Madley? Tax more and spend (waste) even more Labour governments. That's the problem with socialists, they think they can pervert the free market. They don't get it and never will.

Robert, Bracknell, England

Why is against the law for me to bribe/blackmail politicians but its ok for Unions to do it?

andy, london,

So just "compliant" and those who do as they are told bid. Sounds a bit like a quasi nationalised style.
Any management that wants to keep its autonomy, control and self determination just won't go for the business.

Never understood just what Unions do nowadays, other than try to be Time Lords.

Tom Taylor-Duxbury, Ludlow, UK

How, exactly, will this work in the IT sector and companies bidding for IT contracts ? There is no IT union. And how does it apply to 'out sourced' companies, ie non UK based firms bidding for contracts. It will only serve to increase the cost of gov't projects, and thus increase our taxes. Great.

Matt, Didcot,

Great news Gordon, you sold our gold to pay for your wars now you have sold us out to the unions, what depths will this lot go to to protect thier own political careers.

Shame on you!

james, southampton, england

Surely if a business respects its employees, treats them fairly, pays them fairly, then it has nothing to fear from a union?

One of the main problems in UK/USA society is lack of solidarity - we have been split into a nation of individuals, competing against one another and not pulling together.

MD, Milton Keynes,

The British worker does not think the world owes him a living, they had one of the lowest levels of disposable income in the industrialised west. Unions and collective bargaining are necessary in a market and capitalist system, Unions or workers were not lazy, management was incompetent. Edwards???

Dave Madley, Alicante, Spain

How many people know the history of the trade union movement? Go away and read it, and then come back and comment instead of mindlessly spouting propaganda, please.

J Smith, Ellesmere Port,

Having strong unions is a very good thing for a nation in general. Power to the middle class keeps the elite wealthy in check. In the US our unions have been busted, middle class is destroyed, because our government liberalized & deregulated industry. As the middle class weakens so does the country.

Tom B., San Mateo, CA, USA

Where's Lady Thatcher when you need her ??? No business 'bid' on Gov'mnt contracts, and that will stop that 'non-pence'...UK your looking more and more like a 20th world state..No 3d world for you bloks........Your leaders(?) zip right bye it.....

Mr Tim, san marcos, U S of A

So having destroyed the majority of industry in the UK Labour now wants us to return to the bad old days where the idle unions brought the country to a stand still. Genius John genius...

Keith Walker, Newcastle, England

Giving unions power within the arena of public services will void the potential of any future streamlining. We will be stuck with inefficient and top heavy systems forever!

peterj, malvern, uk

There is nothing that Labour will not do to hang on to the opportunity to wield its incompetence over Britain. I'm with business - get the contract then treat the government with the same cynical contempt that ministers display every day. It is no wonder we have a broken society.

Tony G, Newark,

Lunatics are back in charge of the asylum.

trevorH, OXON, UK

Francis Maude is absolutely right. Desperation seeps from every pore of this rapidly disintergrating government. It makes me wonder whether they know that they're destined to lose the next election and are planning to leave the tories with another mess to clear up (like 1979), created out of spite.

Andrew Fleming, Liverpool, UK

The British capacity for self-destruction is breath-taking at a time of economic downturn. When will the British worker realise that the world does not owe him or her a living. It's just a pity that those in top jobs do not show some self-restraint with their own pay rises.

Dwight Vandryver, Scholar Green, Cheshire, UK

let the unions tell labour what to do, it will make them unelectable like in the 80s and the tories can go back to being a proper capitalist party.

will, grimsby, uk

This is just so PC and corrupt. More government regulation. Sclerosis here we come.

Ian Burgess, Bristol,

We had "cash for questions" under the Tories "cash for honours" under Tony Blair. Now under Gordon Brown we have "cash for policies". Gordon Brown finally succeeds in outdoing his predecessors at something.

John Goode, Welwyn Garden City, UK