the labour party are becoming a national Joke
Labour's annual conference in Liverpool could be cancelled in a row over security, a trade union has claimed.
The GMB said the refusal by a security company to sign a union agreement was against Labour's rules.
It is calling on the party to find an alternative contractor for next month's event to avoid it being "scuppered".
The company, Showsec, said it was "not anti-unions in any way" and Labour sources said they were confident the conference would go ahead as planned.
But a Labour spokesman said: "We do not comment on commercial arrangements."
The BBC understands the party has not yet signed a contract with a security provider for the conference, which begins on 25 September.
But it has rejected newspaper claims the Home Office could shut down the four-day event, at Liverpool's Arena and Conference Centre, if Labour fails to sort out its own security, with Labour sources saying the conference is a "private event".
'Clock ticking'
Labour approached Showsec after the party's National Executive Committee voted last year to boycott G4S, which has provided security at party political conferences in the UK for some years.
It was prompted by claims by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign that G4S was linked to "Israeli prisons which hold Palestinian political prisoners from occupied Palestinian territory inside Israel".
The UK's main party conferences are held inside secure zones, with airport-style security scanners to screen the thousands of attendees.
