Even union paymasters are deserting the party

TRADE union donations to Labour hit a new low in 2018 as even its traditional backers desert the beleaguered party.

The total of £ .5million received from the unions was the lowest since Electoral Commission records started in 2001.

The sum pales in comparison to almost £17million given during the election year of 2017, around £10million in 201 and £18million in 2015.

Labour received more than £8million a year from unions in non-election years under Ed Miliband’s leadership. The Electoral Commission revealed the donation totals for the final three months of last year, showing Theresa May’s Conservatives taking in almost £7.4million, which was more than four times the amount to Jeremy Corbyn’s party.

James Cleverly, the Tories’ deputy chairman, said: ‘Even Labour’s traditional big union donors appear to be turning their back on Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.

He blamed it on Corbyn’s ‘failure to deal with anti-Jewish racism’ and his ‘tendency to side with our country’s enemies’.