Trade unions have stopped short of backing a cap on political donations but called for further action on big money in politics, in a joint statement after Reform UK was given an unprecedented £72m from two donors. General secretaries have been split on a call for unions to back a specific cap on individual donors to political parties while protecting trade union donations, which the TUC said were the “cleanest money in politics” because it came from workers’ subscriptions. Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, was among those who called on the unions to go further, warning about the dangers to democracy posed by billionaires buying influence.
In a statement at the TUC conference on Tuesday, general secretaries warned: “The scale of donations made to Reform in recent days is unprecedented in British politics and should deeply concern anyone who cares about the health and integrity of our democracy. These donations show clearly whose side Reform are on, with crypto billionaires, foreign and powerful corporate interests lining up to pour in eye-watering sums of money to advance their agendas.” But the statement said trade union funding of political parties should not be put in the same category as donations from wealthy individuals. Trade unions that are affiliated to Labour, including Unite, Unison and GMB, are the biggest donors to the party.
We expect our government to protect our democracy from being captured by the super-rich. Unions are committed to ensuring that working people have a strong, collective voice in the decisions that affect their jobs, their communities and their futures.” Graham told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the £72m combined donations to Reform UK from the crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne were not comparable to union funding. The communities secretary, Angela Rayner, speaking at the TUC Congress, criticised Reform for suggesting its donations from cryptocurrency billionaires were equivalent to the contributions from trade union members to Labour.
The most highly regulated political funding we can have,” Rayner said. We will never undermine the rights of working people to organise collectively and democratically.” The TUC’s general secretary, Paul Nowak, said the donations to Reform were “a blatant attempt to affect a corporate takeover of our politics” and this should “ring alarm bells”. We cannot allow massive individual donations to distort our democracy.
Our politics must not be for sale.”
Extract — continue reading at the source.
