THE MAIN beneficiary of British Sky Broadcasting's takeover of Manchester United will be Martin Edwards, the club's chief executive, who was willing to sell the club for pounds 20m nine years ago, and is now about to make a personal fortune. "I think Mr Murdoch has got Manchester United very, very cheaply," he said.Shares in the club, which would be valued at about pounds 2.40 each under the terms of the deal, have risen from below pounds 2 on Monday.The Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson told the Sun: "Sky TV has been good for football."Fans' wrath, page 26. Pressure was building on the Government to use its powers to intervene in the deal. MPs from both major parties condemned the deal as against the public interest. Labour MP Joe Ashton, chairman of the cross party Commons group on football, urged Peter Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, to intervene.He said if Mr Mandelson listened to the industry, the fans and the voters, "he'll realise the weight of public opinion against it."He said: "If he alienates them in supporting Mr Murdoch - well, he's a politician, he knows he's got to get votes and there are far more votes in telling Mr Murdoch he has gone a step too far than there is in supporting him."Mr Ashton said Mr Murdoch wanted to clinch the deal ahead of a court case starting in January which will decide whether clubs can negotiate individual deals with television companies. Mr Murdoch's acquisition of Manchester Utd means that if the Restrictive Practices Court does rule that clubs are being prevented from selling rights to their own games by the BSkyB contract, he is in a perfect position to benefit as owner of the first club to set up its own television channel.Hours before the deal was disclosed, David Mellor, the Football Task Force chairman and former Tory MP, joined those condemning the proposed takeover.He said: "Is this proud club with all its traditions just to be a pawn in a global media power-play by Rupert Murdoch, who hardly knows where Manchester is?"The Tory MP Roger Gale, vice-chairman of the party's backbench culture, media and sport committee, said the deal was "all to do with business and not a lot to do with football".The takeover will present a tough decision for Mr Mandelson in the light of the close relations between the Government and Mr Murdoch's media empire.The bid will be examined by the Office of Fair Trading, which will advise the Government on when whether to refer the deal to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC), the body that rules on whether takeovers are against the public interest.At the grassroots level, fans united with leading figures in the game to criticise the deal and supporters are likely to voice their dissent at the team's match against Charlton today.Gillian Howarth, secretary of the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association, said: "With that sum of money I suppose it was inevitable they would accept, but it proves that they don't listen to the backbone of the club - to the match-going supporters who don't want the deal ...Money talks."The former manager of Manchester United Tommy Docherty admitted he was "very disappointed". The Royal National Institute for the Blind said that a law which would extend protection for disabled people from those working in companies of 20 or more, to those where the workforce was at least 15, did not go far enough. The measure will bring in another 45,000 firms and 750,00 people..

POLITICIANS, FANS and sports personalities reacted angrily to the news last night of Rupert Murdoch's pounds 625m deal, which looks likely to revolutionise the world of sport. Pressure on the Prime Minister to intervene over the growing plight of manufacturing industry grew last week with the announcement of the closure of the Fujitsu electronics plant in Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency with the loss of more than 600 jobs.t Margaret Hodge, employment minister, was yesterday accused of granting small firms a "licence to discriminate" against disabled people after she revealed plans for new legislation. THE GOVERNMENT yesterday came under attack from the Labour Party's biggest backer over its strategy towards the public sector. Amid warnings of the growing possibility of industrial action, the 1.3m strong public service union, Unison, registered its "grave concern" over the Chancellor of the Exchequer's three-year austerity package. Gordon Brown's requirement that pay increases should be self-financing would mean deep cuts to jobs and services, according to leaders of the union's key committee dealing with Labour Party policy.A motion drawn up yesterday to be tabled at the party's annual conference next month in Blackpool spoke of the "demoralisation" of public servants and their sense of unfairness.Unison's strongly worded motion, which also accuses the Government of ignoring Labour's election manifesto in critical areas of policy, will ensure that the assembly will not be as submissive as party managers would have hoped.The proposition calls on the Government to reconsider its policies on pay restraint in the public sector, especially as ministers have published a White Paper calling for the modernisation of local government.Unison will urge ministers to recognise the "pressing and urgent need" for higher levels of public spending to ensure high quality services.Rodney Bickerstaffe, general secretary of the union, has warned that his members will eventually resort to industrial action unless the Cabinet addresses the growing problems.The resolution comes after a chorus of criticism of the Government from leaders of private sector unions over the need to boost manufacturing industry.The Bank of England's monetary policy committee, which meets today to set interest rates, has been warned by the Labour Party's biggest affiliates that it has "one last chance" to prove that it recognises the importance of the manufacturing sector. There are 8,000 vacancies and the recruitment problem needs addressing at every level."Unison, the main NHS union, said it was delighted at the initiative to "smash the glass ceiling" which forced the best nurses out of nursing. But many others, having acquired a wide range of skill and experience, want to progress but still retain direct day-to-day contact with patients - the reason why they came into nursing in the first place," he said.The Royal College of Nursing said some senior nurse practitioners were already running their own clinics and operating lists, and argued that it was unclear what tasks the new consultants would take on. But a spokesman warned: "The most persistent problems in the profession are low pay across the board and chronic staff shortages.".

No details of the numbers to be created nor salary to be paid were available, the college said. Existing nurses can earn a maximum of pounds 26,500 on the wards.An RCN spokeswoman said: "We welcome this announcement but a proper value needs to be put on all nurses. Speculators are not going to want to hang around for six months."Business, page 15. THE CREATION of a new grade of supernurse equivalent to a hospital medical consultant will not solve the NHS's recruitment problems, unions warned yesterday. The announcement of plans for nurse consultants, who will have their own patients and run their own clinics, was made by Tony Blair as a part of a drive to raise the profile of nursing. Speaking at the Nurse of the Year awards, the Prime Minister said the creation of the new grade would help keep experienced nurses on the wards. "Some nurses at a certain point in their career are happy to move into management.

Investors were also discounting the likelihood that any bid would be investigated by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.Football analyst William Davies, from stockbrokers Albert E Sharp, said: "Even if BSkyB make a bid tomorrow it is likely to take several months before it is concluded. English National Investment Company, which controls 25 per cent of Glasgow Rangers and has stakes in a number of other European clubs, is weighing up a bid.But industry analysts played down suggestions that another bidder could be found, and shares in the club dropped 6.5p to 200p as hopes of a bidding war faded. They believe other bidders will offer a higher price if BSkyB refuses to pay up. In an attempt to force a deal, the firm is also believed to have issued a deadline requiring the bid to be accepted last night.But United's board, led by the chief executive Martin Edwards and chairman Sir Roland Smith, were holding out for a higher price. There is no commercial benefit whatsoever in moving downmarket.Most Independent readers get home after 6.30pm.

"Is this proud club with all its traditions just to be a pawn in a global media power-play by Rupert Murdoch, who hardly knows where Manchester is?"BSkyB is understood to have made an offer of pounds 575m, valuing each share at 221p. Speaking in a personal capacity, he said agreeing to the bid would be "an act of cardinal folly".He said he had been watching "the struggle for the soul of Manchester United" with mounting concern. It has pledged to write to the club's 15,000 individual shareholders, who own 23 per cent of the club.The anti-Murdoch group has been set up by the author Michael Crick, the media consultant Richard Lander and advertising executives Richard Hytner and Ben Langdon.Officials at the club are also bracing themselves for a demonstration of fan power at tonight's home game against Charlton Athletic.The Football Task Force chairman David Mellor joined the condemnation. THE ATTEMPT by BSkyB to take control of Manchester United was on a knife-edge last night as directors of the Premier League football club tried to squeeze a higher price out of Rupert Murdoch's television group. Directors of both companies were yesterday locked in discussions for the second night running at the London offices of HSBC, the City investment bank which is advising the football club. A group called Shareholders United Against Murdoch has been formed to fight the deal.