A RIFT between Labour and their biggest union backer has emerged after it announced that it would not back any candidate in the party's deputy leadership election.
Unite has declined to endorse Bridget Phillipson or Lucy Powell for the job, saying that neither “represents the change required within the Labour Party. Different economic choices are required now”.
It is the latest indication that relations between the party and the trade union movement are at a crisis point, with Unite previously announcing it was reviewing its financial ties with the party.
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Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, dismissed the deputy leadership race – which is being held to replace Angela Rayner after she was forced to resign when it emerged she had underpaid a property tax on her plush second home – as “irrelevant”.
Graham said: “Britain needs change, not more of the same. Workers are leaving labour in droves and tinkering will not stem the tide. Unfortunately, this election does not offer the alternative that Britain needs. For everyday people, it is irrelevant.
“Labour must deliver real change. We need huge investment into our crumbling infrastructure and our public services, a pay rise for British workers and end to the private profiteering that helps drive inflation.
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“Until the Government makes different choices, they will continue to haemorrhage support.”
Unite is Labour’s biggest union donor and previously announced that Rayner had been suspended as a member over her stance on the Birmingham bin strikes.
Labour were approached for comment.
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