Unite's doing an astounding PR job for Reform

Telegraph

a day ago

Unite's shock decision to suspend Angela Rayner's membership and re-examine its relationship with Labour on Friday left the trade union community aghast.
As senior union officials messaged each other in shock, political rivals were left salivating. This is just the kind of shake-it-up drama they were hankering for.
'This is an odd hill to die on,' one bemused union insider says of Unite chief Sharon Graham's decision. 'It's bonkers – what's their endgame here? Your average union member doesn't give a f--- about political affiliations, but this is damaging for Labour and now is not a good time to damage them.'
Unite, Labour's biggest union backer, should be very careful what it wishes for.
When it ran a private poll of its members before last year's general election, insiders were alarmed to discover growing support for Nigel Farage's Reform.
Clearly concerned about the shift in political tone among its membership, a Unite insider told me earlier this year that Reform was simply an example of 'very wealthy people plugging into the zeitgeist of workers. Is Reform a friend to workers? No'.
So it seems odd that the very same union is now doing some pretty astounding PR for Reform, knowing from their own membership base exactly how effective ex-City trader Farage's efforts have been (the union never revealed the results of the poll).
If the gameplan here is to shift funds to Jeremy Corbyn's new Left-wing party, it's unlikely to work – those union members who have been caught up by Farage's razzle dazzle won't suddenly become Corbynites just because Sharon Graham says so.
While it's younger voters who are more likely to vote for the Corbyn-led party, it's older workers who are more likely to join a union. According to official data, 40pc of union members are over 50 years old while just 3.7pc are under the age of 24. Gen Z might have a reputation for demanding change, but very few are actually unionised.
Meanwhile older, unionised workers who have lost faith in mainstream politics have been listening to Farage for months. From Reform's local election launch rally at JCB where Farage declared that he was 'on the side of working people' to his message in a working men's club in Durham, when he said Reform was parking its 'tanks' on Labour's lawn in Red Wall areas, Farage's charm offensive has paid off.
Union chiefs have been working hard to convince any won-over members to rethink. Tackling Reform's rise was a major focus at a lunch hosted by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents almost 200,000 civil servants, earlier this year while the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has been promoting clips on social media of workers asking why Farage wants them to lose their jobs.
When I asked a union boss about all of this recently, he acknowledged that members were frustrated and angry, living in a country that feels 'broken and beaten'. Reform has tapped into this feeling. But unions have a job to do, he continued – 'remind our members that the reason we have a historic relationship with Labour is that working people need a voice. We still feel that is best served by Labour'.
Maybe so, but Unite just bulldozed that message.
Despite vowing to spend less of members' time and money on Westminster politics, Sharon Graham has been attacking government policies for months.
Going 10 steps further with a formal split from the party and a withdrawal of funding would mark a landmark political moment – one which as well as damaging Labour could serve as a boost for corporate Britain and the wealthy, instead of the workers unions are fighting for.
If Labour falls out with its union paymasters, ministers might be more likely to listen to the needs of the executive class. The government may reconsider its tax raids on the rich amid accusations that it is driving the wealthy away, or it might soften the looming Employment Rights Bill - which is set to give unions far more power – in order to appease UK plc.
Both issues are at a crunch point. As the Bill makes its way to the final stages of the parliamentary process, bosses will be raising the volume on their long-running concerns.
Meanwhile billionaires who swung behind Labour in the lead-up to the election are losing patience. Sir Keir refused to rule out introducing a new wealth tax, a move which unions back, earlier this week after former Labour leader Lord Kinnock suggested the party was 'willing to explore' a tax on assets worth more than £10m.
One of Labour's richest supporters, Phones4U founder and former Tory John Caudwell, has said he is growing 'increasingly nervous' about the Government's direction and argued that a wealth tax would be 'very destructive' to growth.
Labour knows it can't ignore these concerns. Sir Keir's pro-business party looked beyond the unions who traditionally bankroll it in the run-up to the election, accepting nearly £13m in private donations in 2023 versus £5.8m from unions.
It is clear that divisions on the Left will not only benefit Reform but also drive Labour into the arms of billionaires and big business. Unite, which has donated £19m to Labour since 2019, is not as in control as it might think.