Poking the beehive: at the cost of upsetting industrial relations, the Trade Union Bill will provoke further political strife within Labour

Sajid Javid, the government’s new Business Secretary, has just announced proposals aimed at curbing the power of trade unions and weakening their ability to fund the Labour party. Steve Coulter argues that, in an environment of benign industrial relations, the motive for the Bill can be seen as largely political; the move will aggravate the fault-line in Labour between its Blairite and Leftist factions as the leadership election approaches.