Amid considerable controversy between delegates and staff, UCU’s congress has been prematurely closed.

Meeting in Manchester, university and college lecturers made little headway into the conference’s schedule after three walkouts by staff members.

Conference was closed after staff withdrew their co-operation on the grounds that motions censuring the general secretary and calling for her resignation bypassed agreed processes for dealing with issues concerning staff, who are organised by Unite.

A motion of no confidence, calling for the resignation of Ms Hunt – and a second motion to censure her – were listed in the order of business for the first day of the conference.

Delegates, who had a range of criticisms of the leadership’s handling of the union’s pensions dispute, reacted angrily to a motion from the chair to withdraw criticism of Ms Hunt, defeating it by 144 votes to 123.

As a result, Unite members saw their terms and conditions as being contravened, and picketed outside the conference.

Though the union’s further education conference passed various motions, such as campaigning to limit principals’ pay, the union as a whole made little headway.

A further walkout by Unite members today over the passing of an emergency motion censuring Ms Hunt signalled an end to the conference.

However, a motion was passed to reschedule the conference to discuss the issues not picked up on, as conference delegates vowed to rebuild unity in the union and to resolve ongoing tensions.