Ed Miliband last night received a £1.5 million donation from left-wing firebrand Len McCluskey’s trade union Unite. The union said it gave the cash to Labour’s general election campaign fund because of fears the Conservatives could be elected in May on a ‘tide of big business cash’. The Tories said the donation would ‘not come for free’, highlighting a series of policy demands made by Unite. All smiles: The donation came as Ed Miliband, pictured with Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy yesterday, spoke approvingly of ‘redistribution’ of money from the better-off to the poor . Proposals approved at its most recent conference included a 400 per cent increase in the dole, the reversal of all spending cuts and the repeal of Margaret Thatcher’s anti-strike laws. The Unite cash boost for Labour came as Mr Miliband spoke approvingly of ‘redistribution’ of money from the better-off to the poor and refused to rule out a coalition deal with the resurgent Scottish Nationalists. On a campaign visit to Scotland, he backed Labour Scottish leader Jim Murphy’s suggestion that a new ‘mansion tax’, largely raised from homeowners in the South East, should fund 1,000 new nurses north of the border. Former Labour leadership candidate Diane Abbott has accused him of trying to ‘buy Scottish votes with money expropriated from London’. But Mr Miliband said: ‘On the issue of the mansion tax… some of the powerful, the super-rich and the famous are going to protest louder and louder about paying a little more. Firebrand: Len McCluskey is the leader of the Unite union - and a powerful force over the Labour party . 'When homes costing hundreds of millions of pounds pay the same in property tax as homes a fraction of that value, the case for the mansion tax to fund the NHS is getting stronger and stronger by the day. ‘What is the principle at stake here? The principle at stake in this argument about the mansion tax is actually the principle of redistribution and equality.’ Mr Miliband insisted his party can still win a UK-wide majority, and hold all its Scottish seats – despite polls suggesting dozens of Labour MPs will fall victim to an SNP surge. But just days after Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls ruled out a post-election deal with the SNP should Labour fall short of a majority, Mr Miliband left the door open. Political football: Alex Salmond has not ruled out a deal to rule with Labour if there is a hung parliament . He would say only: ‘I have one focus, which is a majority Labour government.’ Challenged that he was not ruling out a deal, Mr Miliband replied: ‘I couldn’t be clearer. Jim [Murphy] said we “don’t need, we don’t want and we’re not planning that” and that’s my position too.’ Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who is attempting to return to the Commons in May, suggested last night he was angling for a coalition – and claimed he is more popular in England than either David Cameron or Mr Miliband. ‘There’s every chance of the SNP becoming the third biggest party in the UK in May,’ he told the Buzzfeed website. ‘The political stars are aligning for a balanced parliament. Neither Cameron nor Miliband are capable of or deserve a majority, and that leaves space for a hugely substantial SNP influence. ‘The problem for the Tories, and Labour for that matter, is that I’m certainly more popular than David Cameron and Ed Miliband in England. Definitely less unpopular, anyway – let’s put it that way.’ Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg warned of the dangers of a post-election coalition involving the SNP or Ukip, suggesting it would make the ‘fiercest critics of this coalition slightly more benevolent about it’. The Tories said that almost 70 per cent of donations to Labour under Mr Miliband had come from the trade unions. Between 2010 and the third quarter of last year, they said Labour had received £35.4 million from the trade unions, out of £51.3 million total donations. Unite has donated £12.8 million to Labour – a quarter of all donations received since Mr Miliband became leader in September 2010. Conservative Party vice-chairman Bob Neill said: ‘This huge latest donation from Unite doesn’t come for free. We all know Len McCluskey and Unite buy Labour’s policies, choose Labour’s leader and pick Labour’s candidates. ‘Just three months away from the most important general election of our generation, the choice couldn’t be clearer: between a competent Conservative government that stands up for hard-working British taxpayers and an incompetent Labour party under Ed Miliband who’s too weak to stand up to his trade union paymasters.’ Labour fury at 'Sinn Fein link' Labour has reacted with fury to claims the party approached Sinn Fein over propping up Ed Miliband in Downing Street. It followed allegations that senior figures were ‘badgering’ the Irish MPs about voting with Labour in the event it lacked the seats to form a government. The Tories issued a poster showing Mr Miliband on the steps of No 10 Downing Street, with his arm around Alex Salmond, alongside Gerry Adams, prompting a senior Labour frontbencher to accuse the Tories of fighting the election campaign ‘in the gutter’. Anger: Labour has reacted with fury to this 'pro Sinn Fein' poster produced by the Conservative party . Ivan Lewis, the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, said: ‘Sinn Fein have said that this story is “pure fiction”, and that no discussions have taken place. ‘Labour’s record as an honest broker in Northern Ireland speaks for itself. ‘The Tories clearly intend to fight this election in the gutter.’ Yesterday there were claims – confirmed by Sinn Fein – that a Tory MP had also approached the party to find out if their MPs might take their seats in the event of a hung Parliament. A senior Labour source denied the party was ‘cosying up’ to Sinn Fein, but refused to rule out a coalition, saying only: ‘We are working towards a majority Labour government.’ A senior Tory source said there was ‘zero prospect’ of a Tory deal with Sinn Fein. One of the key opinion formers during the election campaign will be the BBC. The corporation – accused by the Tories of having a left-wing bias – is bound by its charter to be politically even-handed. The Mail will monitor the service to see if it lives up to its obligations. Under the headline, ‘Care spending cut by fifth in 10 years’, the story led the BBC website and featured heavily on radio and TV news bulletins on Wednesday. It implied that the amount of public money spent on elderly care had been slashed by an alarming 20 per cent in the past decade. But it hasn’t. In cash terms, spending on home and residential care between 2003/04 and 2013/14 actually increased by 20 per cent, from £7.37 billion to £8.84 billion. Even adjusted for inflation it went down by only 6 per cent – regrettable, of course, but hardly a catastrophic fall in a time of austerity. To get to their dramatic 20 per cent cut, the BBC arbitrarily divided the spending totals for 2003/04 and 2013/14 by the number of over-65s in the population for each of those years, to get a per capita spending figure. As the population has risen sharply in the past decade – and with it the number of over-65s – spending per capita was bound to fall between 2004 and 2014. But this per capita figure takes no account of changing care needs and costs, whether the over-65s have become fitter in the past ten years, whether more choose or are able to live at home – with or without social services help – than go into a nursing home, or whether more are being taken in by their families. So is it a realistic calculation, or an interpretation of the statistics most likely to embarrass the Coalition? The BBC replied: ‘We worked with an ONS statistician who was on secondment to the BBC on this analysis, the Health and Social Care Information Centre provided the spending figures and we ran the findings past the Department of Health. No one raised any issues with our approach and we set out clearly in all our coverage what we did and why.’
Firebrand Len McCluskey’s trade union Unite donated cash to Labour .
But senior Tories warned Unite would want a return on its investment .
Policies have included 400% dole increase and repealing anti-strike laws .
'More than two-thirds' of Labour's £51.3m pledges since 2010 by unions .
Ed Miliband last night received a £1.5 million donation from left-wing firebrand Len McCluskey’s trade union Unite. The union said it gave the cash to Labour’s general election campaign fund because of fears the Conservatives could be elected in May on a ‘tide of big business cash’. The Tories said the donation would ‘not come for free’, highlighting a series of policy demands made by Unite. All smiles: The donation came as Ed Miliband, pictured with Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy yesterday, spoke approvingly of ‘redistribution’ of money from the better-off to the poor . Proposals approved at its most recent conference included a 400 per cent increase in the dole, the reversal of all spending cuts and the repeal of Margaret Thatcher’s anti-strike laws. The Unite cash boost for Labour came as Mr Miliband spoke approvingly of ‘redistribution’ of money from the better-off to the poor and refused to rule out a coalition deal with the resurgent Scottish Nationalists. On a campaign visit to Scotland, he backed Labour Scottish leader Jim Murphy’s suggestion that a new ‘mansion tax’, largely raised from homeowners in the South East, should fund 1,000 new nurses north of the border. Former Labour leadership candidate Diane Abbott has accused him of trying to ‘buy Scottish votes with money expropriated from London’. But Mr Miliband said: ‘On the issue of the mansion tax… some of the powerful, the super-rich and the famous are going to protest louder and louder about paying a little more. Firebrand: Len McCluskey is the leader of the Unite union - and a powerful force over the Labour party . 'When homes costing hundreds of millions of pounds pay the same in property tax as homes a fraction of that value, the case for the mansion tax to fund the NHS is getting stronger and stronger by the day. ‘What is the principle at stake here? The principle at stake in this argument about the mansion tax is actually the principle of redistribution and equality.’ Mr Miliband insisted his party can still win a UK-wide majority, and hold all its Scottish seats – despite polls suggesting dozens of Labour MPs will fall victim to an SNP surge. But just days after Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls ruled out a post-election deal with the SNP should Labour fall short of a majority, Mr Miliband left the door open. Political football: Alex Salmond has not ruled out a deal to rule with Labour if there is a hung parliament . He would say only: ‘I have one focus, which is a majority Labour government.’ Challenged that he was not ruling out a deal, Mr Miliband replied: ‘I couldn’t be clearer. Jim [Murphy] said we “don’t need, we don’t want and we’re not planning that” and that’s my position too.’ Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who is attempting to return to the Commons in May, suggested last night he was angling for a coalition – and claimed he is more popular in England than either David Cameron or Mr Miliband. ‘There’s every chance of the SNP becoming the third biggest party in the UK in May,’ he told the Buzzfeed website. ‘The political stars are aligning for a balanced parliament. Neither Cameron nor Miliband are capable of or deserve a majority, and that leaves space for a hugely substantial SNP influence. ‘The problem for the Tories, and Labour for that matter, is that I’m certainly more popular than David Cameron and Ed Miliband in England. Definitely less unpopular, anyway – let’s put it that way.’ Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg warned of the dangers of a post-election coalition involving the SNP or Ukip, suggesting it would make the ‘fiercest critics of this coalition slightly more benevolent about it’. The Tories said that almost 70 per cent of donations to Labour under Mr Miliband had come from the trade unions. Between 2010 and the third quarter of last year, they said Labour had received £35.4 million from the trade unions, out of £51.3 million total donations. Unite has donated £12.8 million to Labour – a quarter of all donations received since Mr Miliband became leader in September 2010. Conservative Party vice-chairman Bob Neill said: ‘This huge latest donation from Unite doesn’t come for free. We all know Len McCluskey and Unite buy Labour’s policies, choose Labour’s leader and pick Labour’s candidates. ‘Just three months away from the most important general election of our generation, the choice couldn’t be clearer: between a competent Conservative government that stands up for hard-working British taxpayers and an incompetent Labour party under Ed Miliband who’s too weak to stand up to his trade union paymasters.’ Labour fury at 'Sinn Fein link' Labour has reacted with fury to claims the party approached Sinn Fein over propping up Ed Miliband in Downing Street. It followed allegations that senior figures were ‘badgering’ the Irish MPs about voting with Labour in the event it lacked the seats to form a government. The Tories issued a poster showing Mr Miliband on the steps of No 10 Downing Street, with his arm around Alex Salmond, alongside Gerry Adams, prompting a senior Labour frontbencher to accuse the Tories of fighting the election campaign ‘in the gutter’. Anger: Labour has reacted with fury to this 'pro Sinn Fein' poster produced by the Conservative party . Ivan Lewis, the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, said: ‘Sinn Fein have said that this story is “pure fiction”, and that no discussions have taken place. ‘Labour’s record as an honest broker in Northern Ireland speaks for itself. ‘The Tories clearly intend to fight this election in the gutter.’ Yesterday there were claims – confirmed by Sinn Fein – that a Tory MP had also approached the party to find out if their MPs might take their seats in the event of a hung Parliament. A senior Labour source denied the party was ‘cosying up’ to Sinn Fein, but refused to rule out a coalition, saying only: ‘We are working towards a majority Labour government.’ A senior Tory source said there was ‘zero prospect’ of a Tory deal with Sinn Fein. One of the key opinion formers during the election campaign will be the BBC. The corporation – accused by the Tories of having a left-wing bias – is bound by its charter to be politically even-handed. The Mail will monitor the service to see if it lives up to its obligations. Under the headline, ‘Care spending cut by fifth in 10 years’, the story led the BBC website and featured heavily on radio and TV news bulletins on Wednesday. It implied that the amount of public money spent on elderly care had been slashed by an alarming 20 per cent in the past decade. But it hasn’t. In cash terms, spending on home and residential care between 2003/04 and 2013/14 actually increased by 20 per cent, from £7.37 billion to £8.84 billion. Even adjusted for inflation it went down by only 6 per cent – regrettable, of course, but hardly a catastrophic fall in a time of austerity. To get to their dramatic 20 per cent cut, the BBC arbitrarily divided the spending totals for 2003/04 and 2013/14 by the number of over-65s in the population for each of those years, to get a per capita spending figure. As the population has risen sharply in the past decade – and with it the number of over-65s – spending per capita was bound to fall between 2004 and 2014. But this per capita figure takes no account of changing care needs and costs, whether the over-65s have become fitter in the past ten years, whether more choose or are able to live at home – with or without social services help – than go into a nursing home, or whether more are being taken in by their families. So is it a realistic calculation, or an interpretation of the statistics most likely to embarrass the Coalition? The BBC replied: ‘We worked with an ONS statistician who was on secondment to the BBC on this analysis, the Health and Social Care Information Centre provided the spending figures and we ran the findings past the Department of Health. No one raised any issues with our approach and we set out clearly in all our coverage what we did and why.’
donation from left-wing firebrand Len McCluskey’s trade union Unite. The union said it gave the cash to Labour’s general election campaign fund conference included a 400 per cent increase in the dole, the reversal of all spending cuts and about paying a little more. Firebrand: Len prompting a senior Labour frontbencher to accuse corporation – accused by the Tories of having a