Owen Jones: If trade unions don't fight the workers' corner – others will

Workfare is battered, but not defeated. The Mandatory Work Activity (the clue is in the name) and the Community Action Programmes remain intact, all of which compel the growing ranks of the unemployed to work for free or have their measly benefits slashed.

But it was a slap in the face for the "protest doesn't change anything" brigade, and another victory chalked up for the burgeoning alliance between small groups of activists and the Twitterati.

The working-class Parliamentarian is an endangered species, and it's up to unions to force an increasingly middle-class Parliamentary Labour Party to actually reflect modern Britain.

We've seen the power of angry tweets and a few placards parked outside Tesco. The Government has been sent into a humiliating U-turn. With a bit of strategic nous, unions could break out of the marginalised fringes where they've long been confined and unite opposition to austerity. 

Frustration is rising: if the unions don't tap into it, then somebody else will.