Unite to debate affiliation with Labour Party at conference next year

Unite will consider its current affiliation with the Labour Party at a conference next year, Sharon Graham has revealed.

In an op-ed for the Financial Times, the general secretary of one of Britain’s largest trade unions said that her union would not choose to affiliate with the party if they weren’t already linked with Labour.

Unite is the biggest union funder of the Labour Party and Graham warned: “If the government does not understand that it is real change and real Labour that ordinary people want, then the rot will continue.”

She also slammed Rachel Reeves’ economic plan for the country for lacking vision, claiming her Budget “delivered for the bond markets and once again for the bankers, while increasing stealth taxes for millions of workers”.

“The Treasury tells us that we can’t afford investment to save our critical infrastructure – that would jeopardise our fiscal rules. And so, reducing the debt we hold as a percentage of GDP goes before building British industry and our public services.

“Would we ever have had an NHS if the 1945 Labour government had adopted this worship of fiscal rules. Labour appears to now be Labour in name only.”

READ MORE: FBU launches ballot on strike action in Oxfordshire over cuts to fire service

Graham added that the Mandelson affair had symbolised how the party “now stands with the elites in the UK and beyond”.

She said: “My union, Unite, is historically the biggest affiliate to Labour and still its biggest union funder. If that were not the case, and if a Labour agent arrived tomorrow at our Holborn HQ inviting us to affiliate, we would say “No thanks”. 

“We would tell the messenger that we need a Labour government that shakes the pillars of the status quo so that everyday people are better off. Clearly this government doesn’t do that. And without a clear change in policies, who the leader is won’t matter.

“Next year, Unite’s conference will consider our current affiliation to the Labour Party; the mood music right now is to depart. The questions being asked are: what is Labour for and who is it for?”

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp, X and Facebook.

Share your thoughts. Contribute on this story or tell your own by writing to our Editor. The best letters every week will be published on the site. Find out how to get your letter published.

• • SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected].
  • SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning.
  • DONATE: If you value our work, please chip in a few pounds a week and become one of our supporters, helping sustain and expand our coverage.
  • PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or projects, email [email protected].
  • ADVERTISE: If your organisation would like to advertise or run sponsored pieces on LabourList‘s daily newsletter or website, contact our exclusive ad partners Total Politics at [email protected].