Latest news with #Angela Rayner
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Tensions escalate between Labour and major financial backer
Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham criticised Angela Rayner 's "utterly abhorrent" conduct regarding the Birmingham bin strike, accusing her of aiding "fire and rehire" tactics. Unite is considering ending its long affiliation with the Labour Party, with Graham stating the £1.5m annual payment is "hard to justify" and members voted to re-examine their relationship. Rayner's allies countered that she resigned from Unite in April and would not be "pushed around," with a Labour source adding Unite rejected a deal that would have undermined equal pay. Graham disputed Rayner's resignation timeline, suggesting she was still a member when seeking election funds and may have recently tried to leave the union. The bin strike began over Birmingham City Council's plan to remove waste recycling roles, potentially costing 170 workers up to £8,000 annually, with talks to resolve the dispute having broken down.
The Independent
a day ago
- Business
- The Independent
Unite boss accuses Angela Rayner of ‘totally and utterly abhorrent' behaviour as clash with Labour escalates
The leader of Unite has described Angela Rayner's behaviour during recent bin strikes as 'totally and utterly abhorrent' as tensions ramp up between the government and Labour's biggest union backers. General secretary Sharon Graham hit out at the deputy prime minister after the union voted to suspend her in a row over how the Labour-run council in Birmingham treated striking bin workers. The union, one of Labour's biggest financial backers, claims fire and rehire tactics had 'effectively' been deployed against striking workers, who are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay and job conditions. In a fresh attack on Saturday, Ms Graham told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Angela Rayner refuses to get involved, and she is directly aiding and abetting the fire and rehire of these bin workers, it is totally and utterly abhorrent." The general secretary said Ms Rayner had been "a member of our union for over 10 years". Allies of Ms Rayner have said she resigned from Unite in April. Ms Graham said the politician may well have done 'Houdini act' in recent months by trying to leave the Union, but added: "She was very clearly a member when she asked us to give her £10,000 for the election. And on our system, obviously we go by quarters, so up to the March quarter." 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." Ms Graham hinted that the union may have to rethink its relationship with Labour, adding that Unite members have to see that the fee to affiliate with Labour is "worth something'. "At this present moment in time, it is hard to justify it, if I'm being honest,' she continued. '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."
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Why is Angela Rayner abolishing ‘first past the post' for mayoral elections?
The government has published the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which includes a clause reinstating 'the use of the supplementary vote system in elections of mayors and police and crime commissioners'. Angela Rayner, who is responsible for local government as part of her sprawling deputy-prime-ministerial empire, is reversing the change brought in three years ago by Priti Patel, who as home secretary in the Conservative government was in charge of democracy and the constitution. Directly elected mayors were brought in by Tony Blair's government, starting with London, because it had no city-wide government after Margaret Thatcher abolished the Greater London Council. Labour chose the supplementary vote system for the election of the London mayor, and the same system was adopted for the other elected mayors that followed. What is the supplementary vote? It is a bit like the alternative vote, the system that was rejected for elections to the House of Commons in the referendum that took place under the coalition government in 2011, except that electors have only a first-preference and a second-preference vote. Under the alternative vote, electors can number all the candidates on the ballot paper in order of preference. The supplementary vote uses a ballot paper with two columns, and the voter uses a cross to mark their first preference in the first column, and another cross to mark their second preference in the second column. Why did the Conservatives change it? The Conservatives have long had a sentimental attachment to the traditional 'first past the post' system, by which electors mark ballot papers with a single cross, and the candidate with the most votes wins. It is one of the few subjects on which the party is genuinely conservative. However, the supplementary vote did also appear to disadvantage the Tories (slightly). Research by David Cowling, formerly of the BBC, found that in 17 out of 218 mayoral or police and crime commissioner (PCC) elections, the candidate who came first on first-preference votes was defeated when the second preferences of losing candidates were reallocated. The net effect was that the Tories lost six contests that they would have won under first past the post; Labour lost four; independents gained eight; and Plaid Cymru and the English Democrats (Doncaster, 2009) gained one each. Why is Labour changing it back? For both partisan and public-spirited reasons. The main reason is probably that the Conservatives changed it, so Labour wants to do the opposite, a bit like the way that the steel industry was nationalised, denationalised and nationalised again in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Labour might also think it will gain a party advantage, although the figures quoted above suggest that would be minimal against the Tories. The party is more guilty of changing the rules to suit itself by its plan to cut the voting age to 16, although there is no timetable for this. In both cases, the plan might backfire. The supplementary vote for mayoral elections might allow the split on the right to heal itself, if the supporters of Reform and Tory candidates give their second preferences to each other. Votes for 16- and 17-year-olds could also fail to deliver a Labour advantage if Reform ends up being as popular with teenagers as some surveys suggest. Electoral reformers are delighted with the change back, and many Labour supporters want it for the principled reason that they think preferential voting is more democratic. Passionate supporters of proportional representation tend to be a bit snooty about it, but they dislike first past the post so intensely that they see any other system as an improvement. The supplementary vote is not a proportional system – in the cases of mayors and PCCs it cannot be, as they are elected as individuals. But proportional systems often include preferential voting, and the Electoral Reform Society, for example, is delighted by Rayner's policy – because anything that takes away from the system that gave us a Labour government winning two-thirds of the seats on one-third of the votes is a good thing, in its view.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner's membership over Birmingham bins dispute
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner 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. Despite the union's vote, a source close to Ms Rayner said she had already resigned membership of Unite some months ago. But in a sign of a growing divide between the major union and Labour, Unite also voted to 're-examine its relationship' with the party. The move comes after Unite members debated a motion at their conference in Brighton, where they condemned the Labour-run council in Birmingham, and the Government, for their approach to the bin workers. The union said fire and rehire tactics had 'effectively' been deployed against striking workers, who are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay and job conditions. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 'Unite is crystal clear it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette. 'Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.' She added: 'The disgraceful actions of the Government and a so-called Labour council is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises. 'People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour Government on and coming up with the answer not workers.' A Downing Street spokesman said the Government's priority throughout the dispute had 'always' been Birmingham's residents. The No 10 spokesman also told reporters: 'As you know, Unite's industrial action caused disruption to waste collection. 'We have worked intensively with the council to tackle the backlog and clean up the streets for the residents for public health. 'We remain in close contact with the council and continue to monitor the situation as we support its recovery and transformation 'I think it's important to look back to the context of this dispute: Unite is in dispute against Birmingham City Council's decision to reform unfair staff structures, which were a major cause of unequal pay claims and left the council liable to hundreds of millions of pounds in claims, and that was a key factor cited in the council section 114 notice in 2023, declaring bankruptcy.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Unite suspends Deputy PM Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike
Labour's largest union donor, Unite, has suspended Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row. Members of the trade union, one of the UK's largest, also "overwhelmingly" voted to "re-examine its relationship" with Labour over the issue. They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council's leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for "bringing the union into disrepute". Politics latest: The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday. Unite is one of the Labour Party's largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 - the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual. The union condemned Birmingham's Labour council and the government for "attacking the bin workers". Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made. Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for "effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000", the union added. General secretary Sharon Graham said: "Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette. "Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts. "The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises. "People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers." There was confusion over Ms Rayner's membership of Unite after her office said she was no longer a member, but parliament's latest register of interests had her down as a member in May and Unite said she was registered as a member. Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said the government's "priority is and always has been the residents of Birmingham". He said the decision by Unite workers to go on strike had "caused disruption" to the city. "We've worked to clean up streets and remain in close contact with the council [...] as we support its recovery," he added. A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.
