Miliband ally's challenge to 'too big, too political' unions Michael Dugher, the shadow minister without portfolio, said unions such as Unite, Labour's biggest funder, are too focussed on merging with one another and exerting political influence, rather than working for their members. Mr Dugher warned Ed Miliband must "emotionally connect" with voters and understand their fears and hopes rather than running his party like a think tank. The comments come ahead of Labour's annual conference in Brighton, which is likely to be dominated by questions over the party's relationship with the union movement. Ed Miliband is trying to convince its union donors to accept a new settlement which will see trade unionists affiliating directly to the party. Mr Dugher's comments are likely to be interpreted as a challenge to Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, who has insisted his union should have a greater say over Labour's policy. "I suspect a lot of union members, by the way, think there's too much politics," Mr Dugher told the House Magazine. If you're at the car plant or if you're at aerospace, they would rather you talk about the work at BAe Systems in Brough and maybe less time talking about Cuba, or Colombia or Nicaragua. They'd rather you were talking about Barnsley. He said Unite's last merger, between Amicus and the TGWU, was "a merger too far." There are now proposals to merge with a further two unions: the PCS and the TSSA. There is a bit of an argument that when the unions were slightly smaller and more focused they were able to more strongly represent those people in those workplaces and had a much stronger identity. I think they have lost a little of that," Mr Dugher said. Mr Dugher said the Labour Party needed to connect "emotionally" with voters, highlighting issues such as tougher penalties for sex offenders. Mr Miliband has been accused of being overly "academic" and out of touch with voters" concerns. We are not running the IPPR. This is not a series of think tank lectures. Actually understanding how people feel, their insecurity, talking to their anxieties, that the opportunities for their kids are not as good as they had, things like that are really, really important.