General strike wasn't the only thing on north-west agenda

The motion that was ultimately carried by the conference, while noting the TUC's 2012 decision, was amended to make it clear that the action points were to be enacted only when the TUC general council considers it appropriate to call a general strike.

It was with that amendment that the motion secured the unanimous support of the conference, recognising as it did the considerable work that would need to be undertaken at local level.

None of the unions or trades councils in attendance have it within their power to make a policy outside the TUC's existing policies and indeed no individual union's regional delegates can go outside of their own union's policies on such issues.

The TUC national consultation with unions will be the correct place for such decisions to be made, and had the motion been unamended, I made it clear to conference that it would have gone beyond the remit of the conference.

Saturday's conference debated and agreed progress on a wide range of issues including defence of the NHS, opposition to austerity and combating the far right in a genuinely comradely manner.

I would not want any confusion over the terms of the important motion your report focused on to become a distraction from all of the other equally important and immediate issues facing working people and which were subject to serious and thoughtful consideration by delegates.

Steve Farley

Chair NWTUC