Even the Thatcher government was rarely able to produce such unanimity between right and left.Opposition has also come from constituency organisations. Around a third of them have put forward resolutions to the annual conferences calling for the whole project to be delayed. Union leaders agreed on Tuesday that their “bottom line” in any future dealings with the Labour leadership should be no diminution of union input into the NEC or into the new policy forums.. The captains of British industry were yesterday taught the secret of business success – sit back and let the workers run the company. At Ken Lewis’s sheet metal-working firm in Sandy, Bedfordshire, the staff decide their own salaries and hours of work, set their own budgets and double as salesmen, cost accountants and quality control inspectors. Mr Lewis, managing director of Dutton Engineering (Woodside) Ltd, says: “I don’t think I’ve made a decision for two years, I’ve not had to sack anybody and I’ve only ever had to discipline one chap and as it happens he brought in a pounds 300,000 contract the other week.”
The 28 staff work in teams of seven and decide their own work patterns, and when to take a long weekend to go fishing instead of slaving over a hot press.There are no workers committees or trade unions, and overtime is an alien concept. The general secretaries, whose unions contributed most of Labour’s election expenses, met at a London hotel on Tuesday.

One of those present said they had “drawn a line on the sand” over Mr Blair’s plans to distance Labour from union benefactors. They have been excluded from Downing Street since the election, and do not expect to be asked in to discuss the matter.
This makes a row at the autumn conference between old and new Labour unavoidable unless the leadership compromises on key points. Party figures meet today to draft a final document to go before the Labour national executive on Wednesday.The Independent has been told the secret union session involved Rodney Bickerstaffe of the Unison public-service union, John Edmonds of the GMB general union, Roger Lyons of MSF, Ken Jackson of the engineering union, Jimmy Knapp of the RMT transport union and Tony Dubbins of the the GPMU print union.Bill Morris, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, was not present but has attended previous meetings of the secret grouping, which was formed in February after the Labour Party national executive (NEC) released its “Party into Power” consultative document proposing fundamental reforms.The general secretaries, and colleagues known to sympathise with them, lead unions holding 45 per cent of the vote at the party conference, and represent the full range of opinions in the union movement. Trade-union leaders are preparing to confront Tony Blair at Labour’s annual conference, after a clandestine meeting of six of the biggest unions agreed a united front against proposed party reforms. Students should pay more, but the money should come through abolishing maintenance grants in favour of loans, he said.What it may cost youWhat parents and graduates will pay under the Government’s proposals:pounds pounds poundsFamily income 16,000 23,000 35,000Maintenance(mnt) loan 3,440 3,440 2,685Parentalcontrib’n (mnt) 0 0 755Parentalcontrib’n (fees) 0 878 1,000Total debt afterthree years 10,320 10,320 8,055* Based on students studying outside London.

“That disappointment will turn to anger when they realise the scale of the lost opportunity which the Government has allowed to pass and the scale of Mr Blunkett’s defeat at the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,” he said.The Liberal Democrat education spokesman, Don Foster, welcomed the Dearing committee’s proposals to expand student numbers and widen access to higher education, but denied tuition fees were the answer to the university funding shortfall. However, some were still threatening to introduce the charges last night. Both Durham and Nottingham universities – two of a group of six of Britain’s old universities which have placed warnings of possible top-up fees in their prospectuses – confirmed they would make no decision on lifting the threat until the government’s full funding plans became clear.Stephen Dorrell, the Conservative education spokesman, said the news would be greeted with disappointment in Britain’s universities. Students should be given a clearer idea of what they will learn before they start, and for the first time tutors will be expected to serve a probationary period in which they must gain teaching qualifications.Making his announcement yesterday, Mr Blunkett warned universities that he would not tolerate the imposition of top-up fees by elite universities on top of the new loans. His committee decided that students should all pay a pounds 1,000 fee and that mean-tested grants should stay.Mr Blunkett promised yesterday that the move would mean more money both for universities and for further education colleges, but he did not promise that the extra income would be ring-fenced.

And they raise the prospect of “golden hellos” for brightest graduates from employers prepared to repay their fees.David Blunkett, the Secretary of State for Education, told MPs yesterday that he planned to abolish maintenance grants and to make graduates from better-off families pay pounds 1,000 per year towards their fees. His report says that courses should relate more closely to the world of work.In return for extra cash, universities will be expected to accept far tighter controls on the quality of teaching they offer. Universities have insisted that the depth of their funding crisis means the Government must plough all new money from fees and savings on grants back into higher education.Although Sir Ron did not demand more input from employers, his recommendations cannot be implemented without their help. The move will mean that students whose parents earn less than pounds 34,000 could leave university with debts of around pounds 10,300.

Those from richer families can still expect parental contributions, which will reduce their debts to around pounds 8,000. Details will be published in a White Paper in the Autumn, but it seems likely that graduates might start repayments when they begin earning more than pounds 10,000.The Government’s announcement marked a rejection of Sir Ron’s main recommendations on funding. The announcement, which followed the completion of Sir Ron Dearing’s 14-month inquiry into higher education, means that graduates from all but the poorest backgrounds will have to repay up to pounds 3,000 towards the cost of their degree, on top of bills for living costs.
The changes, which have been welcomed by universities but fiercely opposed by student leaders, will still leave graduates from the wealthiest families with smaller debts than their poorer counterparts. They will be included in the Crime and Disorder Bill, to be published in the autumn. The Bill will include a new offence of racial harassment and racially motivated violence.Mr Straw will make clear that he expects the courts to pass higher sentences in cases where there is a racial element to crimes.. Twenty years of free university education came to an end yesterday as the Government announced the introduction of loans for university fees.