An excellent BBC Radio 4 investigation into the Falkirk row was broadcast on Thursday evening following the Scottish police announcement that there was insufficient evidence to justify an investigation, never mind bringing any charges. It described the row as “much ado about nothing” and concluded that there was no major vote rigging scandal. You can listen […]
Posts Tagged ‘Unite’
Our union link: the status quo is worth defending
Jul 26th, 2013 by Andy Newman.The conciliatory tone of Len McCluskey’s recent speech on the Labour Party, and Ed Miliband’s proposed reforms, should be welcomed, as it steps away from escalating what seemed to be a growing crisis. There has been a witch hunt atmosphere surrounding Unite, that we need to defuse. Len says: Ed Miliband has made some bold […]
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It’s time to really mend the Labour trade union relationship
Jul 26th, 2013 by Mark Seddon.News that the police have dropped their inquiry into the Falkirk selection because of a lack of evidence does not come as a surprise to me. Having spoken at length to people who had read the Labour Party’s internal investigation and to a number of those directly involved in the selection, it became pretty clear that this […]
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Unite is at a turning point in its relationship with the Labour Party
Jul 24th, 2013 by Len McCluskey.This is the abridged text of a speech made today at a meeting of the Unite executive council and regional political committees at the TUC’s conference centre in London It is clear we are at a turning point in the historic relationship Unite and its predecessor unions have had with the Labour party. This will […]
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Why Lord Ashcroft’s polling on Unite is worthless and should be discounted
Jul 24th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Lord Ashcroft published a poll of Unite members yesterday which made uncomfortable reading for Unite’s leadership – “just under half (49%) of Unite members said they would vote Labour in an election tomorrow; 23% would vote Tory,” revealed Lord Ashcroft for example. It also gave some encouragement to Ed Miliband’s plan to restructure the party-union link — […]
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How Ed Miliband’s political levy is intended to work
Jul 11th, 2013 by Tony Burke.There is some confusion about Unite’s position in relation to the political levy and this week’s announcement by Labour leader Ed Miliband. This is because the same words are being used to describe two different things. “Opt in” or “opt out”? One is whether trade unionists should “opt in” or “opt out” of their union’s […]
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Shouldn’t it be up to affiliates themselves how they manage their link with Labour?
Jul 9th, 2013 by Dominic Curran.This morning Ed Miliband will make a speech in which he will lay out his support for changes to the trade union link including the limited use of primaries, but possibly more crucially forcing trade unions to get their members to “opt in” for Labour party affiliation rather than “opt out”. This proposal will not […]
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The union link and challenging inequalities of wealth and power
Jul 8th, 2013 by Andy Newman.The controversy over the Falkirk West selection reached a new level over the weekend with article in the Observer by Ed Miliband calling for the link with the unions to be “mended not broken”, and Unite’s General Secretary, Len McCluskey, writing in the Sunday Mirror to explain the important context: If your son or daughter fancies becoming a […]
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On bringing in the Police to an internal party row
Jul 6th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.So Labour has handed over its Falkirk report to the police — not something to do lightly. If serious wrongdoing has taken place and it constitutes criminal activity then this it may be justified, but we can’t know that it has until at least a redacted version of Labour’s report is published as it should […]
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Progress have been stoking the flames but it’s time for Ed & Len to turn the heat down
Jul 5th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Yesterday morning, Mark Ferguson at Labour List said “it felt like the Labour leadership and Unite were locked in a Mexican standoff, both sure they were in the right, and neither willing to back down,” but by the end of the day, the heat was still rising and Progress and their media friends were still […]
