Donation for Labour mayoral bid blocked by union leadership Local Unite members fear ‘perfect storm’ of Tory victory
TRADE union Unite has blocked a bid from its regional board to make a donation to Labour’s West Midlands mayoral election campaign.
A spokesman blamed a row involving “people associated with the Labour Party in the West Midlands” for its failure to support Siôn Simon’s bid.
It suggests Labour’s internal splits may be affecting union support for the campaign to win the key West Midlands Mayor contest.
Unite’s West Midlands officials agreed to provide Labour candidate Mr Simon’s campaign with £10,000 after hearing he urgently needed cash to help beat the Conservatives in the mayoral contest this May.
But the decision required the endorsement of the union at a national level – where it has been blocked.
Mr Simon is backed by Gerard Coyne, the union’s West Midlands regional secretary, who is currently battling Unite leader Len McCluskey in an election for the role of Unite General Secretary, the union’s national leader.
Minutes of a meeting of Unite’s West Midlands regional board showed that local union and Labour officials fear the Conservatives could outspend Labour in the run-up to the election of a West Midlands Mayor on May 4.
The minutes state that Mr Coyne explained “how this election could be a perfect storm as 1.2 million voters means a massive administrative challenge and the election has national significance given it’s the biggest electoral test for Jeremy Corbyn.
“The costs could be over £400,000 and the Tories have very little restrictions on cost.”
Mr Coyne told the meeting that West Midlands constituency Labour parties and regional trade unions could be asked to pay a levy to help fund the campaign, but the minutes continue: “Even with this, it wouldn’t be enough so a very hard battle lies ahead.”
The minutes state: “It was agreed by 11 votes in favour with one abstention that £10,000 would be allocated to the West Midlands mayoral campaign”.
But a spokesman for Unite confirmed that the money would not be paid for the foreseeable future.
A Unite spokesman said: “Unite is presently investigating evidence of interference in its internal elections by people associated with the Labour Party in the West Midlands. Any donation to Mr Simon’s campaign will have to await resolution of these matters.”
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A spokesman for Mr Simon’s campaign said: “Siôn is a Unite member. He was Unite-sponsored during the selection.
“I am not aware of us asking them for any money. As far as we are concerned, he continues to have the support of Unite.
“He’s cracking on as a Unite candidate and we’re getting a lot of members supporting the campaign.”
Unite is Britain’s largest trade union and is affiliated to the Labour Party.
Mr Simon is a friend and political ally of Tom Watson, Labour’s Deputy Leader and MP for the West Midlands constituency of West Bromwich East, who criticised Mr McCluskey over the weekend for rowing back on his previous support for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Unite provided Mr Corbyn with £100,000 to support his leadership campaign last year.
It included a £25,000 interestfree loan in July and a further £50,000 in August to fund last summer’s leadership campaign.
An entry in the register of MPs’ interests showed that the debt was later written off.
Unite also gave the Labour leader free office space worth £21,856 for his campaign, bringing the total to almost £100,000 worth of financial backing.
Mr Coyne has previously criticised Mr McCluskey for allowing the debts to be written off.
The mayors to be elected on May 4 will serve the area covered by new West Midlands Combined Authority.
The conservative believe they have a realistic chance of winning in the region with their candidate Andy Street, who was previously John Lewis managing director. He revealed he was personally urged to stand by Prime Minister Theresa May.
The other candidate are Pete Durnell (UKIP), Beverley Nielsen (Lib Dem) and James Burn (Green).
The costs could be over £400,000 and the Tories have very little restrictions on cost Minutes of West Midlands Unite board meeting