'People feel abandoned - we'll fight to win them back'

Rounding off a day of debate, analysis and discussion on how to stop the advance of the right, Mr McCluskey said that "21st century socialism" was the only future for Britain.

Mr McCluskey said that fascism "feeds off our failures" on the left.

"We've got to be brave enough to understand that some people feel abandoned," he said.

"It is dismaying that Mandelson stopped the 50p tax when it should be put on people earning £100,000 a year."

Despite the many disappointments and shortcomings of Labour, Mr McCluskey insisted that if the government promised to provide decent housing and jobs, it would "run away with the election."

"We, the trade union movement, remain the backbone of the Labour Party," he said.

"We have to take it back for our class, for 21st century socialism."

The battle against the Tories and the BNP at home were not the only issues raised at the conference, with a series of workshops on imperialism, environment and international solidarity.

Following former prime minister Tony Blair's appearance before the Iraq inquiry, veteran peace campaigners from the last 30 years compared spending on war with spending on public services.

Stop the War chairman Andrew Murray pointed out that spending on Trident equated to 77,000 new nurses in the NHS.

"When the two main political parties are revelling in squeezing the public sector they are waging war and pillaging other countries," he said.

CND chairwoman Kate Hudson sought to expose the myth that working-class people were in favour of Britain possessing nuclear weapons.

"According to several surveys, the lowest socio-economic categories C2, D and E are most against nuclear weapons in Britain," she said.

And Islamic Forum for Europe co-ordinator Azad Ali exposed the notion of "liberal interventionism," suggesting instead that "imperialism destroys and then builds in its own image."

Referring to heightened security measures in Britain, he added: "At this point, the terrorists have already won because of changes we have had to make in our lives."