Labour and the Unions
The two main political parties in Great Britain, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, have very different structures. This reflects the very different history of the two organisations.
The Labour Party is essentially made up of four elements. The first is our history, our philosophical background, the idealism and sense of purpose – “for the many not the few”. Secondly, there is the Party’s ability to provide candidates for public office, for Parliament, the European Parliament, Local Government, and School Governors. Thirdly, there’s our individual membership, people who join the local Labour Party in the area where they live. Fourthly, other membership-based organisations affiliate to the Labour Party because they broadly share its aims and objectives. Among the Labour Party’s affiliates are organisations like the Fabian Society, the Co-operative Party, and major trade unions like the GMB, Amicus, T&G, and Unison.
This federal structure is rooted in the early origins of the Labour Party and goes to the very heart of what we’re about. The link with the unions is a great strength for the Labour Party and our opponents have always hated it.
It has therefore come as something as a surprise to myself and to many other Labour MPs to find that Sir Hayden Phillips is working on a recommendation that would prevent trade unions from funding the Labour Party. There is widespread support for tighter expenditure caps at election time and in the run-up to elections. What is objected to by almost everybody in the Labour Party is Sir Hayden Phillips’ proposal for a cap on income which in practice would only impact on the Labour Party, because it would be enforced against trade unions – whose accounts are open and published – but not easily enforced against wealthy individuals who wish to give money to the Conservative Party.
Trade union funds are the sum total of individual trade unionists membership dues including, where people choose to pay it, the political levy. The money that trade unions pay to the Labour Party represents a small, relatively modest contribution from hundreds of thousands of individual trade unionists. It is not the equivalent of a single large payment from a wealthy individual and should not be treated as such.
It is expenditure limits that are important. It is very wrong for Britain’s conservative establishment to use an inquiry into the funding of political parties to try to break the Labour Party-trade union link, and collapse the Labour Party financially. Trade union donations to the Labour Party are transparent and accounted for. They are not the bit of the system that needs reforming.