Who's running Labour? - Telegraph Mr Miliband had given the union considerable sway over party management, largely through Tom Watson, the shadow cabinet member and general election coordinator, who quit this week over Falkirk. The Labour leader today tacitly accused Mr McCluskey of complicity in trying to rig the Falkirk selection by enrolling union members in the local Labour Party without their knowledge. "We had members being signed up without their knowledge, bad practice, malpractice, and, frankly, instead of defending that kind of thing, Len McCluskey should be condemning it," he said. Labour officials said the party had asked Scottish prosecutors whether there was a case for a criminal investigation into the union's actions in Falkirk. Sources suggested that enrolling union members in the Labour Party without consent could breach fraud and data protection laws, as well as electoral law. The Labour move came a day after Henry Smith, a Conservative MP, wrote to Scottish police asking them to consider the case. As the Tories accused Mr Miliband of political weakness, Labour insisted that he had not been "bounced" into referring the case to the authorities. A spokesman said Mr Miliband acted after party officials this week identified suspected flaws in membership documents in Falkirk. Speaking to reporters in Hove, East Sussex, Mr Miliband effectively accused Mr McCluskey of failing to act over wrongdoing. I think that Len McCluskey hasn't behaved well in this process. I think he should have faced up to the serious concerns that there were in Falkirk. I think he had at least some awareness there were deep concerns about what was happening in Falkirk. Mr McCluskey hit back by accusing Mr Miliband of "responding to the Tory agenda" and dismissing the potential criminal inquiry. "It is a nonsense and I'm afraid the way it's been handled by the Labour Party headquarters is nothing short of disgrace," he said. I'm sure the police have got a lot better things to do than this, but we'll cooperate. Warning that the issue of Labour's relations with the unions remained unresolved, Mr McCluskey added: "The police inquiry won't finish this issue." Mr McCluskey insisted he still supported Mr Miliband as leader, but accused him of seeking a "Clause IV moment" similar to Mr Blair's battle to reduce union power over Labour in the Nineties. Mr Miliband's aides are understood to be encouraging Unite officials and leaders of other unions to put pressure on Mr McCluskey to back down or consider his position. "Len is not doing the union or its members any good at all," said a senior Labour figure. Asked if Mr McCluskey should consider his position if the allegations were proven, a source close to Mr Miliband replied: "Let's see where the police inquiries take us." One shadow cabinet member said Mr Miliband's credibility was on the line, adding: "He needs to get Len McCluskey under control now, or he'll never have any authority again." Mr Miliband also faced questions about his own response to events. Falkirk activists are said to have raised concerns several months ago with the compliance unit at Labour headquarters in London about Unite drafting in new members. The unit is said to have recorded the concerns in an email to party officials. However, Mr Miliband took no action until May. A party spokesman insisted that the leadership only became aware of the concerns on May 17, when the Falkirk party membership list was suspended. However, the spokesman could not say when Labour headquarters was alerted to fears of malpractice. A Labour frontbencher said that the suggestion that Mr Miliband had been slow to act had already harmed him. "He's looking like the man who turned a blind eye to something bordering on corruption," the shadow minister said.