Eerie silence follows the election euphoria "NEVER MIND the majority -we will still be timid." is the message Tony Blair and his lieutenants newly-elected MPs as Parliament reconcus Anyone naive enough to expect that the Party's landslide victory might open the door to reforms ble pledges in Blair's manifesto are in for a rudc awakching Disregarding all the evidence one too saucer cocons Blair is adamant that he will remain a New Labout phme mumister and that his MPs will toe the line -But with a majority larger than of the Tory Party, the excuse for imposing Tory-style policies is already wearing thin.
Labour is also lumbered with the consequences of Tory economic policies, which have not only left the cupboard bare in kcy public services (sce page 6) but also left a massive gap - a "black hole" -in the Budget, Icaving little if any scope for extra spending even in priority areas.
Among the first to point this out (and call for increased taxation on top carners to plug the gap) has been Ken Livingstone - who may be the only left winger confident enough to break ranks and speak openly out of line with New Labour orthodoxy.
The threat of expulsion from the Labour whip has been covertly bour MPs into submission, and some established MPs on the hard left are expecting swift retribution from Blair's boor-boys.
Union chiefs
But how are we to explain the ers? It seems that they have voluntanly searca themsers - perhaps agrecing with Blair that unions are an clectoral liability, and perhaps also in the hope of delaying Blair's drive to sever the Party's links with the unions.
With the slight exception of GMB leader John Edmonds' specca to the scotush 1Ul, the Icaders of the trade unions which bankrolled Labour's campaign have been obediently invisible for weeks, making Trappist monks seem chatty.
Now a few of them are drawing strength from the result on May 1, demanding their share of the credit and the spoils of victory. May Day speeches have been more confident.
Some bureaucrats may be temment's decision to sign up for the European Social Chapter bornly rejected by John Major's extend a number of additional legal swallowing 18 years of Tory attacks, others will want to be seen to ask for much more in the way of reforms to benefit working people.
Lew Adams, leader of the rail union ASLEF has called on Blair's government to set a timetable for renationalisation of the railways.
UNISON's Rodney Bickerstaffe has yet to emerge from the pre-election silence, but one of the union's most prominent lay officers London regional convenor Geoff Martin, has added his voice to those calling for immediate action.on a minimum wage, pensions and Edmonds: spoke out in Scotland workers' rights.
"The whole election campaisr may have been targeted at a few th. ginal seats, but it is the millions of ordinary working class people who were the backbone of Labour's success, and it is the unions who are the voice of these people - so we have nothing to be ashamed or defensive about," he said.
"This is our government, and we will attempt to influence it," he told BBC radio's World at One. "The unions retain 50% of the vote in the Labour Party and we shouldn't be shy about using it."
UNISON's priorities are the public services and the pay of its members employed by them. "They have been ground into the LABOOR MOVEMENT S