NEW Labour delivered another swipe at the party's old guard today with plans to put the party's election manifesto proposals to the entire membership in an autumn referendum.

At a stroke, the move deflates the power of the trade union block vote and Left-wing activists at the party's annual conference - which, in the past, has forced vote-losing policies on the leadership.

It is, we think, a smart move for Labour's credibility. For, as Tony Blair seems well aware, Labour's long association with the union movement and the visible presence of the Left-wing element at conference time has produced a damaging image of the party being riddled with extremists and a slave to the demands of the union barons.

However, more democratic it may be to have policy proposals stamped by all instead of them being hijacked by its interest groups, but inevitably, we think, they will be drafted by a leadership elite that, because of the ditching of the party's heritage and links with the workers, is perhaps now more removed from the grassroots than it ever was - but closer to the vital middle class voters.

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