‘Red Len under pressure’ over £100m spend on hotel complex
UNITE boss Len McCluskey could face a probe into how nearly £100million of union members’ money was blown on a hotel conference centre.
Costs for the complex in Birmingham had rocketed from an initial estimate of £7million and then a revised bill of £57million.
The hard-Left union chief has also faced questions over why the main construction contract was awarded to a company reportedly owned by an associate.
Mr McCluskey has dismissed the criticism as a “disgraceful smear campaign” and said the high costs were down to the decision to give decent pay to the workers who built it.
But Labour MPs have called for a probe into the project’s costs and contracts.
Neil Coyle, who is also a Unite member, said he is “angry” and that the “whole thing stinks”.
The Labour backbencher has called for an independent audit of how the costs “went from £7million to £98million and where all the money has gone”.
He said: “I feel this is an outrageous abuse of positions to use members’ hard-earned subs to fund a project that’s gone catastrophically wrong – and there have been no apologies.”
Labour former Cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw said: “The obvious answer to the lack of transparency is to have an independent inquiry.
“I think that’s absolutely the right thing to do and I think that’s what the members would expect.” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has a strained relationship with the Unite boss, with the union being one of his party’s biggest donors.
Sir Keir refused to call for an inquiry but said it is “clearly an issue for Unite to address”.
The new complex will house Unite offices and was intended to help save on hotel and conference bills for the union.
The development’s main contract was awarded to the Flanagan Group, a Liverpool-based firm run by Paul Flanagan.
Mr McCluskey, often labelled “Red Len”, denied the allegations and said: “Those engaged in this disgraceful smear campaign should hang their heads in shame and desist immediately.”