Photograph by Weldon Kennedy
One of the UK’s largest unions, GMB, is to cut the affiliation funding it provides to the Labour party from £1.2 million to £150,000 per year.
The changes are due to to come into effect from the start of 2014, and are response to the Labour reforms recently announced by Ed Miliband. Under these changes each individual union member would need to opt-in to supporting Labour, rather than affiliation being automatic as it is currently.
GMB members currently all pay £3 per year to the Labour party, but the reduction of funding reflects an estimate that once this becomes opt-in only around 12% of members would choose to support the party.
The reduction of this source of funding will appease those who accuse Ed Miliband of being in the pocket of the unions but could cause issues for the party, as unions are currently some of their biggest donors.
GMB are also due to cut spending on Labour campaigns.
