Union membership increases in Reform-led councils
Union membership in councils run by Reform has increased since the party took control of local authorities after the May elections, new figures reveal.
The GMB said workers were 'flocking' to join unions amid fears of cuts to pay, jobs and conditions by Reform.
Councils where the GMB has seen an increase in membership include Durham, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire and Doncaster.
Nigel Farage?
Weak on Putin. Threatens our NHS. #GMB25 pic.twitter.com/RL0AUW2aPq
— GMB Union (@GMB_union) June 8, 2025
GMB national officer Rachel Harrison told the PA news agency: 'Reform spouts a lot of nonsense about being on the side of workers, but these figures show people aren't buying it.
'Workers in Reform-led councils are flocking to join unions because they know the first thing Farage and his cronies will do is attack low-paid staff's terms and conditions.'
GMB general secretary Gary Smith launched an angry attack against Reform in a speech to the union's annual conference in Brighton at the weekend, saying Nigel Farage and his 'ex-Tory soulmates' were no friends of workers.
'They've spent a political lifetime attacking trade unions and the rights we have all fought so hard for. Decent pay, better conditions, protections we cherish.
'Why is it always the posh, private schoolboys who want act like they're working-class heroes?
'Do they really think we can't see the bankers, the chancers, the anti-union blowhards?
'If Reform are so pro-worker, why did they just vote against protections against fire and rehire? Why did they vote against sick pay for all workers? Why did they vote against fair pay for carers? Why did they vote against trade union rights to access and organise in places like Amazon?
'Now they are going to run town halls, and the first thing they want to do is sack council workers.
'It's high time they were called out for their sneering, snooty attitude about so-called 'gold-plated' pensions. Go ask a local authority care worker, refuse collector, street cleaner, school support staff member if they think their meagre pension is gold-plated.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
31 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Gangsters ‘would be treated like terrorists' and face up to 14 years in jail under Tory plans
Scotland's turf war shows no sign of slowing down GANG DEMAND Gangsters 'would be treated like terrorists' and face up to 14 years in jail under Tory plans Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) CRIME gang members would be treated like terrorists and face up to 14 years in jail under crackdown plans from the Scottish Tories. It would see them behind bars if they are part of gangs identified by Police Scotland. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Sign up 2 A hitman stormed a bar and assassinated Eddie Lyons Jr and Ross Monaghan And the Tories would rewrite the law to stop fraudsters and rich criminals getting away with paying back a fraction of their ill-gained wealth. Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: 'Organised crime gangs are causing misery in our communities, but the SNP still fail to act. Find out what's really going on Register now for our free weekly politics newsletter for an insightful and irreverent look at the (sometimes excruciating) world of Scottish Politics. Every Thursday our hotshot politics team goes behind the headlines to bring you a rundown of key events - plus insights and gossip from the corridors of power, including a 'Plonker' and 'Star' of the Week. Sign up now and make sure you don't miss a beat. The politicians would hate that. SIGN UP FOR FREE NOW 'We'll get tough on these individuals by making it a criminal offence to be a member of gangs. 'It will be in a similar vein to it being illegal to be a member of a terrorist organisation. 'It's also time to overhaul the SNP's Proceeds Of Crime laws which too often let criminals off repaying their debts.' Gang membership would lead to the same jail sentence as being part of a terrorist group such as Hamas. It would also see Police Scotland paid by criminals ordered to pay back their ill-gotten gains. The DOWNFALL of Scotland's biggest gangster - Jamie 'The Iceman' Stevenson Part Two The party says this will encourage cops to investigate organised crime gangs by giving them a cash incentive. John Swinney was last week blasted for failing to act on organised crime amid a raging underworld turf war in Scotland and the double murder of two Scots drug lords in Spain. We told last week how a hitman stormed a bar in Fuengirola on the Costa Del Sol and assassinated Lyons gang kingpins Eddie Lyons Jr, 46, and pub owner Ross Monaghan, 43. Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: 'The Scottish Government made it an offence for an individual to be involved in serious organised crime in 2010. 'Since 2008 over £156 million of ill-gotten gains has been recovered through the UK-wide Proceeds Of Crime Act.'
The Sun
31 minutes ago
- The Sun
Nigel Farage says Brits have ‘every right to be angry' about cost of hotels for migrants
BRITS struggling to live have 'every right to be angry' about illegal migrants getting cushy hotel rooms, Nigel Farage said yesterday. The Reform leader hailed The Sun's front page for laying bare the crippling cost of asylum accommodation. 1 We told the case of Stuart Whittaker - a former factory worker from Hull who is now homeless - feeling he had been 'shoved to the back of the queue'. Downing Street yesterday admitted it was 'absolutely not' fair that locals like him are sofa-surfing while taxpayers fork out for migrant hotels. Also addressing the story in Port Talbot, Mr Farage said: 'What I tell your man from Hull, is he has every right to be upset. 'Every right to be angry. 'Just don't say anything on social media or Keir Starmer will put you in prison.' He said that while legal migration has a bigger strain on public services, it is the 'sheer unfairness of these young men' coming across the Channel illegally that rubs people up. The cost of paying for asylum support has ballooned to around £4.7billion annually, and around 15,000 migrants have arrived from France this year already. Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said: 'It's not fair that tens of thousands of people are stuck in an asylum backlog that's wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers money, and that's why we're focused on taking the action needed to reduce the number of asylum seekers and hotels.' Minister Chris Bryant yesterday insisted that the 'best deterrent' against small boats was processing asylum claims quicker. He was slammed by Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who said: 'This is dangerous nonsense from a weak Labour Government. 'Giving illegal immigrants asylum faster is no deterrent - it will just attract even more to come here. 'A real deterrent would be removing every single illegal immigrant who arrives in the UK to somewhere like Rwanda.'
Scottish Sun
31 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Russia using horror AI kamikaze drone that ‘chooses its own target' as Ukraine now faces blitz of over ‘500 every night'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) VLADIMIR Putin has begun deploying kamikaze drones that select their own targets using AI in a fresh assault on Ukraine. The country now faces over 500 attacks every night, just days after Kharkiv was rocked overnight by a downpour of missiles. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Fire and smoke rise in Ukraine following a Russian drone and missile strike Credit: Reuters 5 Kyiv is seen engulfed in flames following a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters 5 Reports said the UAV-V2U is being used to close in on the northeastern city of Sumy, while Putin ramps up drone production and builds new launch sites. Some 70 units a day are now being made compared to just 21 last year, according to Ukraine's military intelligence. This is largely thanks to help from China, the agency has said, as the UAV is "mostly assembled from Chinese-manufactured components." Beijing has repeatedly denied supplying drones or weapon components to Russia, whilst Trump and Biden have both hit China with sanctions to stop it getting access to computer chips. Marking a new escalation in the war, the drones use camera images to navigate and AI to independently locate targets. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said: "The key feature of the drone is its ability to autonomously search for and select targets using artificial intelligence. "Its computing system is based on the Chinese Leetop A203 minicomputer, with a high-speed processor assembly built on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin module." This comes just hours after drones and missiles were launched at Kyiv as Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers were reportedly unleashed to rain hell on the infamous Snake Island in the Black Sea. Moscow launched a massive strike on Rivne using its Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers to hit Dubny airbase. Squadrons of these fighter jets were targeted and destroyed last week in Kyiv's daring Operation Spiderweb. Russia bombs Kyiv killing 4 in blitz as Putin plots revenge for Op Spiderweb Another key Ukrainian military airport - Hostomel - was also attacked as Putin sought revenge for the humiliating attack. Polish armed forces command said Nato fighter jets were patrolling due to 'intensive air attack by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory'. Just days ago, Kharkiv was rocked overnight as 48 kamikaze drones, along with missiles and guided bombs, slammed into residential areas, according to the city's mayor. 'We have a lot of damage,' Ihor Terekhov said. More than 50 explosions rocked Kharkiv, with the mayor adding it was 'the most powerful attack' on the city of the 39-month war. In the latest terror strikes on civilians, 18 multi-story buildings and 13 private houses were hit and damaged. In Kyiv, a dramatic tower block video filmed by a resident showed the terror of another Putin strike on civilians as flames from the exploding drone shot some 80ft up the building. Three were killed and at least 21 wounded, including a six-weeks-old baby, and a 14-year-old girl. A woman, 26, trapped under a slab of concrete was eventually freed three hours after the strike, and was seen being stretchered to an ambulance. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described how hundreds of drones and missiles "rained down" on his country overnight. He wrote in a social media post: "Kharkiv had a particularly terrible night. "People were injured and killed, and the energy infrastructure was also damaged." Sybiha added there were further strikes in the Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil and Odesa regions. 5 The Kursk region after being struck by a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters
