LABOUR leader Ed Miliband directly challenged the party's biggest union donor Unite yesterday with a brash dismissal of its support for an in-out EU referendum after the 2015 election.

Playing to the gallery in front of a mainly business audience Mr Miliband took the opportunity to scoff at the union’s position, which had been backed a day earlier by delegates to its Liverpool policy conference.

“There should be an in/out referendum if there is a further transfer of powers from Britain to the EU,” he said.

“But I am not going to follow others in saying that we should commit to spending the next three years focusing on an EU referendum in 2017.”

He added insult to injury by supporting the dangerous Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal being stitched up by EU and US negotiators behind closed doors, which will fundamentally change Britain’s ability to control its own destiny.

On Monday Unite delegates backed opposition to the free-trade agreement which threatens to hand corporations the right to sue EU states that wish to retain parts of the economy under democratic control — and could force through total NHS privatisation.

An oblivious Mr Miliband said he hoped for “a successful outcome in the EU-US trade talks.”

He also appeared keen to pick up where former Labour leader Tony Blair left off, declaring that it is the role of government “to set the rules of the market” so that businesses “can create the profits” — an echo of new Labour’s “third way” where the state defines the rules by which corporate profits can be made but does not directly intervene.

“Market reform” was the answer to the obscene profiteering of private utility companies, he claimed, adding: “We need successful energy companies that will invest in the future of the country.”

But he repeated his belief that there should be a “national economic interest” test governing overseas takeovers such as US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer’s controversial attempt to buy AstraZeneca.

He also pledged to enforce “basic standards at the place of work, including the minimum wage.”

And he proposed a National Infrastructure Commission to oversee long-term infrastructure planning.