Unite could move to disaffiliate from Labour in future, union boss warns
At their conference in Brighton, Unite members also voted to 're-examine' their relationship with Labour.
Unite is one of a number of unions which are affiliated with the Labour Party, and pay hundreds of thousands of pounds towards it each year, as well as making donations to individual Labour MPs.
Ms Graham told the BBC that re-examining the union's relationship with Labour could mean disaffiliation, potentially leaving the party without a major donor it has previously relied upon.
Unite members have to see that the fee to affiliate with Labour is 'worth something', she said.
Ms Graham added: 'At this present moment in time, it is hard to justify it, if I'm being honest.
'Would that money be better spent on frontline services for my members?
'But the decision will be a serious decision.
'It's not a rash decision.'
Such a decision would go to a rules conference of the union, she said, adding that she was 'having pressure to have an emergency rules conference, which would mean we would disaffiliate'.
Ms Graham said: 'If it was me and I had a major backer like Unite, that has everyday people in it, remember, this was a vote of members at the parliament of our union, that were saying that we don't believe that Labour defends workers in the way that we thought they would, we believe that they're making the wrong decisions, I would be concerned about that.'
After Unite announced it had suspended the Deputy Prime Minister's membership, a source close to Ms Rayner said she had already resigned her membership of the union in April.
File photo dated 3/7/2025 of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner who has been suspended from membership of Unite over the Government's handling of the Birmingham bin strikes, the union said following a vote of its membership (Peter Byrne/PA)
The union boss suggested Ms Rayner may have attempted to do a 'Houdini act' in recent months by leaving Unite.
Membership is counted in quarters of the year, Ms Graham said, and the Deputy PM was a member as of the March records.
She added: 'Now, if she has over the last couple of weeks, because she's seen the mood music, because this isn't the first time that we've discussed that we're not happy with what's going on, then she may well have done that.'
Unite also voted on Friday to suspend the union membership of John Cotton, the Labour leader of Birmingham City Council, and other union members on the authority.
The strikes have resulted in unsanitary conditions throughout the city, with large piles of rubbish in the streets.
Downing Street insisted on Friday that the Government's priority throughout the dispute had 'always' been Birmingham's residents.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
an hour ago
- Times
100 years ago: Lloyd George airs plans to solve the mining crisis
Lloyd George, speaking at an open-air meeting at Cinderford today in support of the Liberal candidate, referred to the mining crisis and dealt with the plan for the unification of the coalfields that was rejected in 1919 and 1921. 'That scheme,' he said, 'would have had a most beneficial effect on the mining industry but it was gibed at by the extremists of the time. Now those very men are ready to advocate it as a remedy.' As a result there was the prospect of strife and of a disastrous struggle, which had been brought about by the rejection of the proposals of which he had spoken. The Labour candidate, Albert Purcell, he said, belonged to that section of the Labour Party that had done the most mischief in the coalfields in recent years. He and the extremists on the other side had swept away the moderate men; hence the trouble which was now being experienced. Lloyd George remarked that men like Purcell wanted the moon. 'Well, there is no coal in the moon,' said Lloyd George, 'and if men of that type get hold of England it will be as desolate as that sterile orb.' • Robert Colvile: Keir Starmer isn't the new Attlee — but who could be? Purcell was too much even for the working men of Coventry. They put him out and he fled to Moscow, and now he was seeking the suffrages of moderate Labour in the Forest of Dean. Lloyd George said the government had muddled the gold standard: trade had been kept down and the cost of things had increased. This had led to the neutral markets of the world being handicapped by the most formidable competition with our exports. This resulted in the government putting up the price of coal abroad by 1s 6d per ton. That had given the advantage to Germany and the United States, he said. ⬤ At Dayton, Ohio, the jury in the evolution trial are going about their business as usual, not being confined or kept together. They are only instructed not to talk to anybody about John Scopes. If annoyed or questioned, the jurors are authorised to call the town marshal to protect them. Most of them have returned to their farms. The 'City Fathers' are debarred from holding revival meetings on the court lawn during the sessions on account of the noise, shouting and singing, and the possibility of a collision between zealous antagonists and supporters of evolution. • Mein Kampf at 100 — why the most reviled book in history still haunts us The crux of the trial [Scopes was charged with violating state law by teaching Darwin's theory of evolution] comes in the argument over the admissibility of scientific evidence, which will determine the length of the trial. Monkey man: John Scopes, second left, at his trial in 1925 for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution in high-school science classes HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES The defence counsel states: 'If we are permitted to defend ourselves, the trial will last at least three weeks; but if the scientific testimony of thirty-five defence-witnesses is barred, the trial will end very quickly.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy shakes up government with Svyrydenko as PM
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has nominated Yulia Svyrydenko to become Ukraine's new prime minister while moving the long-serving incumbent, Denys Shmyhal, to defence minister. It increases the likelihood that Rustem Umerov – current defence minister – will become the Ukrainian ambassador to Washington. Ukraine's president said he wanted Svyrydenko, 39, an economist, to lead the government and 'significantly renew its work'; while Shmyhal's 'vast experience' would be 'valuable in the position of minister of defence of Ukraine. This is precisely the area where the country's maximum resources, maximum tasks and a great deal of responsibility are currently concentrated.' Svyrydenko posted that she would pursue deregulation, cut back bureaucracy, protect business and reduce non-critical expenditure to achieve the 'full concentration of state resources' for defence and post-war recovery. 'The state apparatus has no right to waste the resources and potential of our country,' she said. 'Ukraine deserves to be among the strongest economies in Europe.' The nominations require parliamentary approval. It comes as Donald Trump confirms he will authorise billions of dollars' worth of US military supplies to Ukraine including defensive Patriot missiles and the launcher systems, known as batteries, that fire them. The US president and the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, met and announced Ukraine's European allies would pay for the equipment, with some drawn immediately from their existing stockpiles and then replaced. Trump had promised a major announcement on Russia on Monday, but apart from the weapons announcement he gave Vladimir Putin another 50 days to make a peace deal. After that, 'we're going to be doing very severe tariffs', the president said, referring to 'secondary tariffs' that would target Russia's remaining trade partners. The US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal praised Trump's 'powerful' move. However, they have a sanctions bill ready to go through the US Congress in short order, whereas Trump's announcement represents a further prevarication on taking tough action against Putin and his trade partners, among whom the senators singled out 'China, India and Brazil, that prop up Putin's war machine'. A retired US army officer who worked as a civilian for the air force has pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit classified information about Russia's war with Ukraine on a foreign online dating platform. David Slater, 64, who had top secret clearance, pleaded guilty to a single count in exchange for two other counts being dropped. He is due to be sentenced on 8 October with prosecutors and his lawyers agreeing he should serve between five years and 10 months and seven years and three months in prison, with the government recommending the low end of that range. Russian drones killed two people on Monday in Ukraine's southern Kherson region. The governor, Oleksander Prokudin, said a woman was killed in the region's main town, also known as Kherson, and a man died in an area north of the city along the Dnipro River.
Leader Live
an hour ago
- Leader Live
Asylum costs set to take up fifth of UK's shrunken aid budget, watchdog warns
Some £1.8 billion of the projected £8.9 billion budget for overseas assistance could be spent on supporting refugees and asylum seekers in Britain in 2027-28, a report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) says. Despite the June spending review suggesting a reduction in such costs over the next three years, they are still on course to absorb a 'significant portion' of total aid funding, according to the watchdog. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced plans to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament after the National Audit Office said accommodation costs could hit £15.3 billion over a 10-year period. But progress in bringing down aid spending on so-called in-donor refugee costs remains 'slow', the ICAI said. International OECD rules allow governments to use their aid budgets to cover some of the costs of helping people claiming asylum in the first year of entering a country, such as housing and food. According to ICAI calculations, asylum costs are expected to take up £2.2 billion of total UK official development assistance (ODA) funding for 2026-27, £1.8 billion the following year and £1.5 billion by 2028-29. The Government slashed Britain's aid budget earlier this year from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% in order to pay for increased defence spending. Total ODA spending is now expected to fall from £10 billion in 2026-27 to £8.9 billion the following year before increasing slightly to £9.4 billion in 2028-29. This means a fifth of the total aid spend in 2027-28 is expected to go towards asylum costs, before dipping to around a sixth in 2028-29. ICAI commissioner Harold Freeman, who led the new report, acknowledged the Government had already taken some steps to address 'flaws in the system' but said further changes would be likely to be needed. He said: 'The UK's development programme is at a turning point, with budget reductions coming against a backdrop of increasing global conflicts, climate threats and rising humanitarian needs. 'At the same time, UK asylum costs are likely to continue to absorb a significant proportion of our aid funding. 'The Government has already taken steps to address some of the flaws in the system for managing aid identified by past ICAI work. 'But further changes will likely be needed to maximise the impact and value for money of the remaining development budget.' The Government has been contacted for comment. Last year, the watchdog raised 'value for money' concerns after some 28% – or £4.3 billion – of all UK aid in 2023 was spent on hosting refugees and asylum seekers in Britain under the previous Conservative government. The amount of ODA spending on in-house refugee costs has risen dramatically since 2020, in part due to visa schemes for Afghan and Ukrainian people but largely linked to lengthy stays in so-called asylum hotels, the ICAI said. In response to its latest report, the Tories said the 'eye-watering cost' of housing asylum seekers was 'utterly indefensible, particularly when so many people are struggling to get by'. Shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam said: 'This broken system rewards delay and indecision, while the British taxpayer foots the bill. 'Those who have no right to stay here should not be languishing in hotels; they should be detained and deported within days – not years. 'We need a migration system that is firm, fair, and fast. 'Over the past 12 months, Keir Starmer has systematically dismantled every deterrent, while his joke of a migrant deal agreed with France last week will do nothing to stem the flow of migrants risking their lives to cross the Channel.' The One campaign, which aims to reduce poverty in Africa, said the report confirmed that UK aid had been 'stretched to breaking point'. Executive director Adrian Lovett said: 'While it's right that refugees are housed in safe accommodation, paying for this from the diminished international aid budget means there will be even less support for the world's most vulnerable people at a time of growing global need.' Mr Lovett added: 'The UK is at its best when it delivers a strong and growing aid budget, but also uses its political and diplomatic muscle to help create the conditions for sustainable solutions. 'We look to ministers to be creative and ambitious on both fronts in the months and years ahead.'
