Victory for union over `gagging'

Unison, Britain's biggest union, has won a key victory in Europe in its fight to have"political gag" on local government officers removed.

The European Commission on Human Rights said the British government has a case to answer over its prevention of political activity by up to 30,000 local authority employees. The public service union will now go to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of itself and four members, arguing that clauses in the Local Government Act 1989 infringed workers' rights.