Stop press: Unions support Labour

Left Foot Forward

Two stories in today's Times examine the shock revelation that the trade unions are due to play a prominent role in the forthcoming election.

Two stories in today’s Times examine the shock revelation that the trade unions, instrumental in the formation of the Labour party, are due to play a prominent role in the forthcoming election. Left Foot Forward looks at the evidence.

Rachel Sylvester in the Times writes that:

Like Lord Ashcroft, Unite has been generous financially, contributing £3.6 million to Labour last year, nearly a quarter of the total donations the party received. Since March 2007 it has given more than £11 million.

The latter is clearly a big number but put in context it looks rather smaller. According to a written parliamentary answer from 2009, 1,291,408 Unite members contribute to its political fund – working out at under £3 per member per year since March 2007. Rather less than the average of £1 million a year donated by Lord Ashcroft’s company Bearwood Corporate Services over the same period.

Meanwhile, Tom Baldwin reports that:

Four of the most recent selections by constituency parties in winnable seats have led to senior trade union officials becoming parliamentary candidates.

But although it may be shocking to those who wish to see the destruction of the trade unions, Unite’s parliamentary group already has 156 members. Indeed, a number of senior Labour politicians of the past and present had prominent trade union backgrounds. These include

• Jim Callaghan – Assistant Secretary of the Inland Revenue Staff Federation before going on to become Prime Minister

• Ernest Bevin – General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union and later foreign secretary

• Alan Johnson – General Secretary of the Communications Workers Union and current Home Secretary

 

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31 Responses to “Stop press: Unions support Labour”

  1. Billy Blofeld

    Liz,

    Do you think so?

    http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/trade-union-rights/modernisation/page16097.html

    … either I need to take less sugar, or you need to start smelling some coffee. We’ll find out soon…….

  2. Joe Anderson

    RT @leftfootfwd: Ashcroft & Unite are not analogous. Ashcroft gives £1m per year; Unite members give £3 per year http://cli.gs/t4rWQ

  3. Liz McShane

    Billy – I fail to see how the UMF is ‘a money laundering fund’… it seems pretty clear, above board & transparent to me – something which Cashcroft, Hague etc have not been.

    btw I am more of a tea aficionada & I am also not a Trade Union member – not that that should be important.

  4. Tyler

    2 points to make here:

    1) Those £3 donations from union members ARE NOT decided on by the members themselves – they are given wether or not each individual member wants to.

    2) UNITE and various other unions recieve between £12-16 million a year from the “union modernisation fund”, which is effectively a giant slush fund. Without those TAXPYER funds, unions would not have as much money to throw at Labour….and of course it is Labour who are distributing those funds.

    By the way, my polite requests for information to various unions regarding the UMF have been met with silence – which is going to force me to use FOI requests. If you’ve got nithng to hide…..

  5. Guido Fawkes

    Can you just clarify if you have solicited money from Unite / Charlie Whelan for LFF?

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