Tories say Miliband giving Trade Union bosses an even bigger stranglehold on Labour

There are reports this morning that the Labour party are preparing to sever their historic link with the Co-Op Bank and are preparing to move loans from there to the Unity Trust Bank. The Conservative party Co-Chair Grant Shapps has accused Labour of having a "plan to move a £1.2m loan to unions' bank" and giving "Ed Miliband’s union bosses an even bigger stranglehold on the Labour Party"

The Tories say that this is because almost 75% of Unity Trust Bank is owned by trade unions (including Len McCluskey’s Unite union which is the biggest donor to the Labour party) and the Co-op, who currently own the remaining 25%, are planning to sell their shares to them.

Commenting the Conservative Party Co-Chair Grant Shapps said: "These proposals would hand the trade unions even more control over Ed Miliband and the Labour party. The unions already pick the candidates, buy the policies and choose the leader. Now Ed Miliband wants them to hold the purse strings as well. If Ed Miliband is too weak to stand up to the trade union barons then he is too weak to stand up for hardworking people. This would put Britain’s economic security at risk."

It is unclear whether the Labour party is simply breaking from just the Co-Op Bank or from the Co-Op group completely. If the latter this could put "Labour & Co-Op" MPs such as Stella Creasy in the position of having to choose which party she wishes to represent in the House of Commons, after being elected for both.