Trade unions have an important role in any decent society, but their stranglehold on the Labour Party is something we must fight against.
I will never forget walking the streets of Poland back in 1981, when martial law was in force, and there were armed soldiers on almost every street corner. There it was a trade union, Solidarity, which brought authoritarian Communism to its knees.
In the UK Margaret Thatcher recognised the importance of trade unions in society. Indeed one of her first roles in politics was as chairman of Dartford Conservative Trade Unionists.
But the battle in British politics today is nothing to do with the work done by local union officials or workers struggling for political freedom. Instead it is about the personal ambitions of a small group of union bosses who want to change our country in pursuit of inefficient spending and a larger, ineffective state.
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