The Kelly report may have been subtitled “Ending the big donor culture” but what it would most effectively stop is the money Labour receives from millions of Britain’s smallest donors, trade unionists who, according to TULO, mostly pay between £5 and £8 per year to their union’s political fund, who can already choose not to do so (as do 23% of members of unions with a political fund). And yet, Kelly proposes no action to give shareholders the right similarly to opt out of company political donations. In reality, this is as much an attack on Labour’s politics, the commitment to representing working class people, which has been integral to the party-union link since its foundation, as it is an attack on the party’s funding. Continue reading →