UNION’S SINISTER HOLD OVER MILIBAND

Mail investigation reveals over half of Labour candidates in key seats are sponsored by Unite militants

MORE than half of Labour candidates in winnable seats are sponsored by just one hard-left trade union.

Fifty-four of the party’s contenders for 106 target constituencies are either members of Unite, or are endorsed or partially bankrolled by it.

The analysis by the Mail lays bare the extraordinary stranglehold the union’s firebrand leader ‘Red’ Len McCluskey has on Ed Miliband.

Tories say the general secretary’s degree of influence is payback for the huge sums Unite has given to Labour since 2010.

Its £ 14.3million contribution makes it the biggest donor to the party. Together, the unions have handed £40million to Mr Miliband – two thirds of the Labour leader’s funding. The avalanche of cash is reflected in the party’s candidate list. Of 410 new faces for the General Election on May 7, one in three – 133 – have links with Unite.

Labour’s close ties with the union will be on display on Friday evening when Mr McCluskey will be the special guest at a major rally in Glasgow.

Party leaders hope the intervention of the former supporter of the Trotskyist Militant Tendency will help fend off the threat of the SNP.

Many of the Unite leader’s demands have become party policy

under Mr Miliband, including the abolition of the spare-room subsidy or bedroom tax.

Labour is also pledging to adopt other unite-inspired policies such as a ban on zero-hours contracts, a large increase in the minimum wage, scrapping fees for employment tribunals and rent controls.

Mr Miliband has announced plans to partrenationalise the rail network – another policy pushed by Mr McCluskey – and Labour has repeatedly refused to rule out increasing corporation tax, a change the unite leader has argued for.

two years ago, unite was mired in scandal for trying to ‘manipulate’ Labour’s selection of a candidate in Falkirk by stuffing the local membership with its supporters.

Henry Smith, tory candidate for Crawley, said: ‘Labour is nothing more than the political wing of the trade unions, with Ed Miliband an appointed puppet who squeaks whatever Red Len tells him to. the consequences could not be dire: more wasteful spending, more unaffordable borrowing and higher taxes for hardworking families.’

Mr Miliband was elected Labour leader in 2010 thanks to the support of the unions. the frontrunner, his brother David, won more support among Labour MPs and party members. But Ed won more support among the unions, pushing him over the winning line. trade unions gave £148,000 toward his leadership campaign – including £115,000 from unite. Mr Miliband was endorsed by unite, with the then two co-general secretaries, Derek Simpson and tony Woodley, urging members to vote for him.

After the result was announced, the new Labour leader was observed putting an arm round them and saying: ‘thank you.’ Fifty- three of unite members had voted for him. Since Mr Miliband became leader, the unions have donated £40.4million to the Labour Party, according to the Electoral Commission. unison has handed over £8.1million while the GMB has donated £6.9million and usdaw £6.1million.

Another £2.6million has come from the CWu, £730,000 from uCAtt and £690,000 from the union Community.

In target seats, 84 per cent of Labour candidates have union links.

Harriet Harman, Andy Burnham and Chuka umunna are all unite members.

A spokesman for Labour said: ‘We are proud to have selected a wide range of candidates with varying backgrounds including carers, military personnel and business people.

‘trade unions have no undue influence over Labour’s candidate selection process, and unlike the tories who stand up only for a privileged few, Labour is on the side of millions of hardworking people.’

A spokesman for unite said: ‘there is no such thing as a unite MP or candidate, there are only Labour candidates. We fully support all Labour candidates.’

IN recent days, attention has focused on the alarming prospect of a minority Labour government being held to ransom by an SNP demanding more spending, more welfare and more debt.

Today, an analysis by the Mail serves as a timely reminder that it wouldn’t only be Nicola Sturgeon making ruinous demands of Ed Miliband, however. Since Red Ed became leader, the equally Left-wing trade unions have donated £40.4million to Labour – with £14.3million given by Len McCluskey’s hardline Unite alone.

And, in return, their placemen have landed plum seats. Of candidates who will stand for the first time on May 7, six out of ten are union-linked.

Most significantly, Unite has ties to half of the candidates in Labour’s key target seats – potentially giving it a vice-like grip on a Miliband administration. Little wonder that – from the economically-illiterate ban on zero-hours contracts, to the imposition of rent controls – last week’s Labour manifesto read like a trade union wish list.

It had been paid for and dictated by Mr McCluskey and his antediluvian cronies. Yesterday, the investment bank Goldman Sachs warned that, if the country is steered sharply to the Left by Labour, the cost of borrowing will rise and the pound will slump in value.

The Tories have only a fortnight to save Britain from a recovery-wrecking alliance of Red Ed (who was only able to stab his brother in the back with union support), Red Len and Ms Sturgeon.