Monday, September 09, 2013
Second union cuts funding to Labour
The Telegraph reports that a second Trade Union is to slash the money it gives to the Labour Party. They say that Unison believe the number of its members who are affiliated to the Labour party will fall from 500,000 to 430,000, meaning that they will be paying Ed Miliband's party £210,000 less each year:
The news means that in the past week Labour has seen lost more than £1.2million a year in donations from unions.
Last week the GMB union said it was cutting its affiliation funds to Labour from £1.2 million to £150,000 in the wake of the row over party reforms.
Unison sources stressed that the cutting in fees going to Labour was part of a three-yearly house keeping exercise to ask members if they supported Labour, and was not a political gesture aimed at the Labour party.
A Unison spokesman said: “The change in affiliation fees reflects the turnover of members and every member has the opportunity to pick if they want to be affiliated to Labour or in the general campaigning non-party fund.”
The Shadow Welsh Secretary told Radio Wales yesterday morning that Labour needed to make up for the shortfall by becoming a mass membership party again. However, even he had to concede that this was unlikely to happen in time for the 2015 General Election.
All the signs are that Ed Miliband's reforms are likely to leave the Labour Party without the means to match the big business money going into Tory coffers when it comes to the next election.
The news means that in the past week Labour has seen lost more than £1.2million a year in donations from unions.
Last week the GMB union said it was cutting its affiliation funds to Labour from £1.2 million to £150,000 in the wake of the row over party reforms.
Unison sources stressed that the cutting in fees going to Labour was part of a three-yearly house keeping exercise to ask members if they supported Labour, and was not a political gesture aimed at the Labour party.
A Unison spokesman said: “The change in affiliation fees reflects the turnover of members and every member has the opportunity to pick if they want to be affiliated to Labour or in the general campaigning non-party fund.”
The Shadow Welsh Secretary told Radio Wales yesterday morning that Labour needed to make up for the shortfall by becoming a mass membership party again. However, even he had to concede that this was unlikely to happen in time for the 2015 General Election.
All the signs are that Ed Miliband's reforms are likely to leave the Labour Party without the means to match the big business money going into Tory coffers when it comes to the next election.
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Indeed. It is a sign that Big Business does not believe that Miliband can form a government after the election that It is not rushing to fill Labour coffers as they did with Blair.
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