Wake-up call

Unite has backed the growing number of Conservative voices speaking out against the Government’s Trade Union Bill and planned changes to party funding.

Concerns were expressed by members of both main political parties, and others, during a sitting of a special Lords committee considering funding changes as a result of the Trade Union Bill.

The Independent reports that a cross-party rebellion by Peers over union donations could force a government U-turn. The paper also suggests the committee may conclude that Tory ministers have failed to publish a proper impact assessment and ask them to think again.

It’s thought the controversial plan forcing union members to ‘opt-in’ to paying the political levy could deprive Labour of around £8m a year in funding from the union movement.

Immoral 

Some senior Tories outside government feel this would be both partisan and divisive. The call for a re-think was led by the former shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, who suggested the plans were “borderline immoral.”

He added: “This shows that the Tory party does not understand the history of the Labour party as the political arm of the trade union movement.”

Fair system 

Lord Forsyth – a Thatcherite minister in the 1980s – concurred, saying: “I don’t want to help the Labour party but I do want to see fairness across the system.”

Iain McNicol, Labour’s general secretary, told peers Britain faced “a crisis of democracy, distorting the UK electoral system.”

Others, including former head of the civil service Crossbencher Lord Kerslake, called for a wider review of all party funding.

Wake-up call

Unite’s political director, Jennie Formby, said the sight of Tories speaking out against their own party should serve as a “wake-up call for David Cameron.”

She added: “This Bill and the measures aimed at curbing union funding are designed to deny millions of working people a voice .

Cynical move

“Make no mistake this government – which won just over 35% per cent of the popular vote – is engaged in a highly partisan attempt to muzzle unions. It’s a cynical move to keep themselves in power permanently by starving the Labour Party of funding.

“More enlightened Conservatives have clearly understood that this is an attack on workers and an affront to democracy. To their credit they are unwilling to let the Prime Minister destroy the main opposition party and the trade unions.

Vested interests

“Along with a raft of other anti-democratic measures, ministers are attempting to tilt the balance of power still further towards their own vested interests – big business and the rich,” she said.

In recent months the government has been heavily criticised over changes to voter registration and constituency boundaries.

The Lords committee was established when opposition and cross-bench peers united to pass a motion demanding an independent review of the Tories’ plans.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, the minister taking the Bill through the Lords said: “It will allow individual union members to make an active choice whether to contribute to a union’s political activities.”