Unite’s Break from Labour: A Long Time Coming, but Still a Blow, writes Aggie Chambre
On Sunday, July 5, 2015, Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership bid received a major boost when Britain’s largest union, Unite, formally backed him. Donations followed. He quickly surged ahead in the race—eventually winning the crown. While he might have succeeded without their support, Unite’s endorsement certainly helped.
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During his leadership—and even before—Unite was Labour’s most generous donor. But Corbyn’s eventual ejection from the party marked a turning point. Many now see it as the beginning of a fractured relationship that appears on the verge of breaking altogether. Today, union members voted to “re-examine” their ties to Labour.
Over the past decade, Unite’s donations to the party have significantly declined. While it still gives Labour hundreds of thousands of pounds, the union increasingly channels money directly to individual MPs whose politics align with its values.
If the formal relationship does end, the financial fallout won’t be as dire as it might have been in the past. However, Unite’s over one million members may be less inclined to vote Labour at the next election—an outcome that could still prove costly.
Symbolically, it’s a serious blow to a government that prides itself on supporting workers’ rights. It is especially painful for the deputy prime minister, who is leading the government’s workers’ rights agenda and had her Unite membership suspended today—though sources close to her claim she voluntarily left months ago.
Long seen as a favourite of the unions and a potential future Labour leader, she now risks losing both political momentum and union support. Even before any leadership vacancy arises, the damage to her standing could be significant.
The broader question lingers: what does it say about a Labour government if it is being abandoned by the very unions that formed its foundation? As Unite leader Sharon Graham told the union’s conference today: “People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour Government on—and coming up with the answer: not workers.”
Some within Labour may shrug this off. The split has been long in the making, they argue. Unite, under Sharon Graham, is shifting back toward being a traditional union focused on workplace issues, and away from the political activism that characterised Len McCluskey’s tenure.
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