Stroppy unions break fragile truce with Labour to demand cap on hours and windfall tax

They deliberately embarrassed Gordon Brown at the party conference by using block votes to force through motions demanding a lurch to the Left.

And as they flexed their muscles further, they were cheered by activists in the hall with demands for the renationalisation of utility firms and tax hikes on the super rich.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown at thel Labour Party Conference, where he has been put on the spot by the unions

Although the resolutions slipped into yesterday's agenda will not automatically becomepartypolicy, the moves sparkedanangry reaction from ministers who believed the unionshad agreed not to make trouble.

Delegates overwhelmingly backed a motion to end Britain's opt- out of the EU working-time directive, which would effectively limit workers to a 48-hour week.

One minister said last night: 'The last thing we needed was for a signal to go out from the Labour Party conference that your bills are going up but we wantto stop you working overtime to pay them. Despite this vote, we will continue to defend the right of people to work the hours they choose and earn moremoney, especially in these much more difficult economic times.'

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Britain's biggest union Unite, said the opt-out was an 'act of injustice'. To cheers, he added: 'People don't want long hours. They work long hours because it is the only way to make ends meet. People should work to live  -  not live to work.'

GMB boss Paul Kenny called it a 'tragedy' that many staff were forced into working long hours, disrupting family life.

The motion said: 'By allowing the opt- out to remain Britain will continue to hold its unenviable position as the country with the longest working hours in the European Union. Conference therefore confirms that it is the policy of the Labour Party to oppose
the continuation of the optout and other elements of the common position which undermine existing protections.'

Ministers also came under fresh pressure to introduce a windfall tax on 'greedy' power companies.

Mr Brown has already ruled out a one-off levy on their profits, butthe unions, whose influence is growing within Labour, forced through a second resolution meaning it will be considered as party policy.

To loud applause, Mr Woodley warned energy firms: 'If they still don't get the message, this Government should consider taking these essential industries  -  gas, electricity, water  -  back under public ownership. If it's good enough for the banks, it's good enough for our utilities.'

Former environment minister Michael Meacher called for the 'Robin Hood tax' to help vulnerable people pay for soaring fuel bills.

But Business Secretary John Hutton brushed aside calls for nationalisation. 'The idea that we can follow some kind of Venezuelan strategy here, taking these companies into public ownership, I think, is really quite misplaced,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One.

'Right now we need massive investment, a huge low-carbon revolution. That is not going to be within the gift of the taxpayer to fund through taxation. The sums are simply too big for that to happen.'

Derek Simpson, joint head of Unite, said City bonuses were 'out of control' and called on Chancellor Alistair Darling to regulate the system or 'tax it out of existence'.

He said it had created 'an all powerful, mega-rich elite, with no connection to ordinary people  -  an amoral class without a care for how their reckless behaviour is wrecking lives'.

'We need a dynamic regulatory structure to manage the spivs in the City who are causing this economic meltdown.'