Labour's NEC voted to endorse Ed Miliband's changes to Labour Party structure, reducing trade union influence and removing the special status of MPs in leadership elections except where nominations for the leadership are concerned.

Only two NEC members, Dennis Skinner and Christine Shawcroft, voted against the changes.

The background to this dramatic structural change in the party has been the twin effects of the long term pressure of new Labour and the right to completely break the union link, alongside an absurd panic over the Falkirk selection process where there was much media criticism of the involvement of Unite.

A later party investigation indicated nothing untoward had happened in Falkirk.

However, once David Cameron had taken up the cudgels and attempted to portray Len McCluskey as some kind of malevolent grandfather interfering in family affairs, there was a headlong retreat by Labour which has resulted in the new changes that are going to be voted on at a curiously short two-hour special conference on March 1.

The trade unions founded the Labour Party through the Labour Representation Committee because they didn't feel that the 19th-century Liberal Party was capable of representing their interests.

They turned their attention to founding a party of labour, whose federal structure was finally agreed at the end of WWI.

The Labour Party was seen as a combination of individual members, socialist societies and trade unions. While the number of unions affiliated has declined, either through merger or disaffiliation, there has continually been a union influence on policy-making.

Some would argue their influence could have been used more effectively - particularly on the economic policy of the party in the 1980-90s and more specifically in putting greater pressure on the Blair government over privatisation and private finance initiatives (PFIs).

However, we should recognise that unions have had enormous influence on some of the best and most progressive legislation in Britain.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 was an enormous step forward in recognising dangers in the workplace.

The Redundancy Payments Act introduced by Harold Wilson in the 1960s gave some compensation to those losing their jobs.

The Equality Act 2010 recognised in statute that discrimination is illegal.

The National Minimum Wage Act 1997 was originally campaigned for by the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and other unions.

The whole point of the union affiliation to Labour was that people at work could legitimately use their political influence on a party they were affiliated to in order to win better conditions and improve workers' rights across the board.

Many of the right-wing commentators are incapable of understanding that there is a fundamental difference between being a member of a union whose leadership legitimately lobbies on behalf of its members and business interests who lobby on behalf of their shareholders for greater profits or indeed simply in order to grab public assets through privatisation.

It is more than unfortunate that Labour's "special" conference, which will give unions five years in order to remove automatic Labour affiliation from those of their members who do not choose to opt out as well as bring in a completely changed voting system, occurs at the same time that the government is making a new assault on trade unions.

Yesterday and today the members of the rail unions RMT and the TSSA have been on strike on London Underground to defend the ticket offices, those who work in them, and sufficient staffing for all Underground stations.

There is no doubt that the strike has caused massive disruption and a huge degree of inconvenience to people.

But it is also clear that many people fully understand that if the mayor and Transport for London are allowed to get away with closing ticket offices, down the line further cuts will come - and what is a very efficient public transport system will inevitably become less safe.

PM Cameron and Mayor Boris Johnson, old friends from the Bullingdon days, are trying to make strikes impossible in public transport by reclassifying it as an essential service.

This is an assault on the basic rights of workers which are enshrined in International Labour Organisation statutes.

Last Monday night there was a very interesting discussion in Parliament at one of the People's Parliament sessions on democracy in our society.

Speakers were Green MP Caroline Lucas and journalist Owen Jones.

Owen made the point that the origins of social change in Britain stem from popular protest. He referred to the influence going back to the English civil war and the Levellers and later to the 19th-century social movement which eventually resulted in the welfare state.

He also pointed out that the current media denigration of those in receipt of any kind of social security benefit, or who are demanding a living wage or protesting against high private-sector rents, indicates just how important it is that there are avenues for political influence for those who are not wealthy, powerful or famous.

The reality in life is that global corporations which are very powerful and exist in tax havens around the world can destroy national economies and local environments.

They are not subject to any democratic forces at all.

The problem in Britain is not that Parliament is too powerful, but that it is too weak in particular areas - such as controlling what the executive does or influencing economic policy.

An even worse situation applies under the cosh of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the European Central Bank in countries such as Greece.

As we move towards a parliamentary election in 2015 we should recognise that democracy is not only about holding the powerful to account - it's also about giving people the right to freedom of expression.

This government has shown exactly what its intentions are via its Lobbying and Transparency Bill - the infamous gagging Bill - designed to silence the perfectly legitimate role of unions and other civil society organisations in framing public debate and attitudes.

It has also shown exactly where it stands on the other roles of voluntary organisations and unions, which represent a force for the aspiration and protection of workers in both the public and private sectors.

The media always portray unions as run by "bosses," as some kind of malevolent force in our society. The reality is that people who would be denied rights at work in our society without them.

Unions keep our democracy alive.

Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North. Find out more about the People's Parliament at www.thepeoplesparliament.me.uk or follow it on Twitter at twitter.com/pplparliament