THE LEADER of the Unite trade union accused Labour today of looking like an uninspiring team of “middle managers” while Britain faces a “tsunami of redundancies” and its worst recession since the 1930s.

General secretary Len McCluskey said that the Labour leadership elected earlier this year had shown an “element of timidity” and “fear” in failing to set out the party’s position on the economy. 

Up to 3.5 million redundancies are expected due to the coronavirus crisis.

Mr McCluskey suggested that the party leadership was trying to shift economic policies devised by former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and former leader Jeremy Corbyn to the right — on a false premise that voters did not believe the radical policies were “credible.”

Mr McCluskey told House magazine: “I’ve even heard certain inside members of the frontbench, whose names I won’t mention just yet, suggest that the last five years on economic policy has been a disaster.

“Now, I hope that doesn’t reflect [Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s] views, because it is simply untrue.”

He said that he had no doubt that between 2015 and 2017, Mr McDonnell and Mr Corbyn had an economic strategy that “gained a significant amount of credibility and support.”

Sir Keir would only win an election with the left’s support, he said, dismissing theories of the left’s “demise” as “greatly exaggerated.”

Mr McCluskey urged Labour members on the left not to become “demoralised’ and called on Sir Keir to stick to the policy pledges he made during his campaign to replace Mr Corbyn —  including renationalisation of utlities and rail, a green new deal, abolition of tuition fees and higher taxes for top 5 per cent of earners — to promote party unity.

He revealed that he would push for a meeting of left-wing allies in coming weeks.