Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary
Brighton UK: Following a passionate and ‘well-tempered’ debate at Unite’s rules conference today (Monday 10th July) the union which is the Labour Party’s biggest affiliate has overwhelmingly rejected proposals that would have resulted in the union disaffiliating from Labour.
An Executive Council statement made it clear the the consequences of backing proposals that would have allowed the union to make contributions and support other parties and groups would have lead to Unite automatically being expelled from the party.
The vote to support the EC statement (see above) was overwhelming.
Speaking in the debate Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said there would be “no blank cheques” for Labour as there had been in the past:
“This is the moment of maximum leverage for the union where we can hold Labour to account. Now cannot be the time to walk away. We would be weakening our own arm.
“It would be the worst time to leave the Labour Party when they are in touching distance of power, if we leave we wouldn’t influence that power.
“Labour must be Labour and the union must push them into that position we must make them take different choices. We will not make the same mistakes of the past there will be no blank cheques for Labour until we see tangible results.”
Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Labour Party is due to address delegates who represent the Labour Party’s biggest affiliate on Thursday
