THE long shadow of Falkirk and the funding row left senior TUC figures desperate to concentrate on the cost of living crisis gripping Britain's workers, angry and frustrated.

Ed Miliband's plan to switch affiliation fees from an automatic to a voluntary basis on the back of a Scottish scandal - which now apparently never happened - is undoubtedly a bold move.

It could well be that the best part of 3 million currently affiliated trade unionists decide not to sign up to the change with the consequence that the millions of pounds that each year flow into Labour coffers from their fees start to dry up. Alternatively, the party leader's move could result in a reasonably large number of affiliated trade unionists deciding to keep their Labour link and pay £3 or more for the privilege.

Not unsurprisingly, the Tories rubbished Ed's big idea, claiming even if it went ahead it would increase not diminish the power of the union barons.

By reducing the affiliation fees, a union will have more to spend in its central fund and thus more leverage on forcing Mr Miliband to do its bidding ahead of the General Election, the Conservative argument goes.

Given the bitter wrangling over Falkirk, the magnanimity of Unite leader Len McCluskey raised eyebrows that some cosy deal with the Labour leadership had been done - namely that in return for support for the voluntary fees, the unions' block vote and its role in electing the leader would remain untouched.

"There is absolutely no deal," declared Red Len. But sources close to Red Ed made clear any further changes to the block vote were now off the agenda at least until after the 2015 election.

The fact of the matter is that for all the noises off, the major trade unions, when faced with the choice of a Labour or Tory government, only have one option.

And so when push comes to shove Labour might still get a large flow of union funds in the run-up to the election regardless of the change to the affiliation fees - if, that is, it is passed by members at the planned special conference in the spring.

In politics as in life, there is often a fine line between bravery and foolhardiness. It will not be until the day after election day that Mr Miliband will know on which side he has fallen and whether his big gamble has paid off.