Ed Miliband: Labour not in thrall to 'sectional interests' Ed Miliband told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: '[McCluskey] is entitled to his view but he is wrong.' Photograph: Handout/Reuters Ed Miliband has hit back at a senior union leader by defending Labour's commitment to a public sector pay freeze and insisting that the party is not in thrall to "sectional interests." Len McCluskey, general secretary of Britain's biggest union Unite, used an eve of conference interview with the Sunday Times to describe the party's support for the pay freeze as "crazy" and urged Miliband to reject the influence of Blairites. But in a strongly worded retort, the Labour leader said the party had a choice of either supporting pay rises or protecting jobs. "[McCluskey] is entitled to his view but he is wrong," Miliband told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday. We've got the right policy to say we put jobs in the public sector ahead of pay rises. That's what we said we would do this parliament. It is a difficult decision but it is the way to keep jobs in the public sector. But there is a bigger message also about the Labour party that I lead - I am not for pushing people out of the Labour party. I want more people in the Labour party. There is no future for this party as the party of one sectional interest of society. We must be the party of the private sector just as much as the party of the public sector," he said. Miliband, who defeated his brother David to become Labour leader with the help of union support, said McCluskey's criticism was proof that the unions were not "pulling our strings." At the same time, Miliband attempted to put distance between Labour and the coalition in several other areas, including the rate at which they would cut the deficit, the top rate of income tax - which he said Labour would put back to 50p in the pound - and the breakup of banks. The Labour leader also said his party would repeal the NHS bill, just a day after he reportedly said it would not be sensible "for us to come along and say ... we're just going to reverse it all back and spend another £3bn on another top-down bureaucratic organisation." On Saturday night, the Conservatives had accused Miliband of losing control of NHS policy, saying that moments after the Labour leader's comments the shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham, had said he would "repeal the bill, full stop." Miliband told Marr: "We're going to repeal the bill, we are going to make those changes, but we obviously have to look at some of the detail of some of the reforms, some of the changes that have been made, because I don't want to just shuffle the deckchairs all over the place again." On banking, Miliband followed up his interview with the Observer - in which he said he would break up Britain's banks unless they separate their "casino" investment operations from services to accountholders, savers and businesses - by implying that a threat by the banks to move abroad would not dissuade him from implementing such a policy. "Do you want someone who will stand up to the vested interests of our society or don't you?" he said. The Labour leader claimed he was unconcerned about opinion polls showing that his personal ratings were low. Miliband said the fact that the Tories had released a poll on him showed "I've got them worried." He added: "I am my own person and I am going to do it my way. I think, in the end, people respect somebody who has seriousness of purpose and a clarity of ideas. Let me just make this contrast. Four years ago David Cameron was saying, 'I want to hug a hoodie and I want to hug a husky.' And now he wants to lock up the hoodies and doesn't give a damn about huskies ... People don't quite know where he stands. People are always going to know where I stand.