Unite cuts funding after Labor spend hundreds of thousands in compensation for “victims” of the antisemitism story
But don’t worry - the Labour Party has a response:
Labour woos rich donors after Unite cuts funding
Eleni Courea, Political Reporter | Patrick Maguire, Red Box Reporter
Thursday October 08 2020, 12.01am, The Times
Sir Keir Starmer has begun a drive to increase donations and contributions from grassroots members
STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA
Sir Keir Starmer is seeking support from wealthy donors to help the Labour Party to amass a £5 million election war chest and reduce its reliance on trade unions. The Labour leader has begun a drive to increase donations and contributions from grassroots members amid threats from left-wing unions supportive of Jeremy Corbyn to reduce or withdraw their financial support.
Unite, the party’s biggest donor, voted this week to cut its contribution to Labour’s coffers by 10 per cent, or just under £1 million.
This followed a public rebuke from Len McCluskey, the union’s general secretary, over the decision to pay damages to former party officials who contributed to a BBC documentary about Labour’s antisemitism scandal.
Having donated some £7 million to Labour since the start of last year, Unite is the largest and most influential of a number of Corbynite unions at odds with Sir Keir since his election in April.
On Tuesday, Mr McCluskey told BBC Newsnight that donations could be reduced further. “If things start to move in different directions and ordinary working people start saying, well, I’m not sure what Labour stand for, then my activists will ask me, ‘Why are we giving so much money?’ ”
Yesterday Sir Keir’s spokesman dismissed suggestions that the decision would deal a severe blow to the party’s finances. “Even before Unite’s decision, we were looking at how we can raise the funds to win in 2024 and we’re looking at various different models,” he said.
Last month David Evans, the party’s general secretary, indicated in a conference call that former backers were now returning. He said Labour aimed to raise about £5 million for the election campaign from a variety of sources.
Ian Hodson, president of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union, said it was reviewing its donations. “We have been concerned with recent decisions internally and by the failure of the party to stand up and oppose some of the most oppressive legislation we have seen in the UK,” he told The Times .
Labour has established a three-tier fundraising strategy to convince wealthy supporters to make regular contributions. Donors are invited to join the party’s Rose Network for £100 a month. With £208 a month they can join the more exclusive Ambassadors’ Circle, while membership of the Chair’s Circle costs £416 a month.
It signals an appetite to return to the New Labour years, when it raised millions from wealthy members and was often at odds with its union affiliates.