The imminent election on the Channel Island of Jersey on 7 June is becoming an unusually significant political story. The ballot will see 28 deputies, 12 constables and nine senators chosen for the States Assembly. As Guido revealed for the first time, Labour’s key donor the Unite union has a weirdly strong hand in the process as the key backer of the Reform Jersey party…
Reform Jersey is a total basket case on all the usual lefty issues including Palestine. Unite should also be troubled by the party’s history on Russia. Just one candidate example: Reform Jersey’s Lee Carpenter. In November 2025 Carpenter quoted Putin’s justification for invading Ukraine in an interview with Tucker Carlson and added: “can’t argue with that”. He has also posted claims that the war was “clearly provoked by the US”. He also wrote: “I see no evidence invasion is what Putin wanted“. This is all at odds with Unite’s own position on Ukraine: the union has repeatedly passed motions of solidarity with Kyiv at its conferences. Why is Unite – and by extension Labour – in bed with the weird world of hard left politics on Jersey?
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Labour’s Treasurer Mike Payne admitted at the latest NEC meeting that Unite’s disaffiliation is draining the party’s coffers, and it will run a deficit in 2026. Admittedly Labour should be used to running high deficits by now…
According to NEC member Cat Arnold’s minutes:
“Treasurer Mike Payne said he has seen the annual accounts and they await the internal audit. Discipline will hold us in good stead for 2026, but we will not have a balanced budget but be in deficit. The Unite disaffiliation has had an impact and will have consequences.”
Unite has long been Labour’s biggest union donor. The party is clearly terrified of what happens next. As Arnold herself puts it, other unions are “considering their options”. Time to tighten the belts…
Unite the Union has expedited its plan to disaffiliate with Labour, having launched a consultation with its members on the proposal this week. According to Sky News’s Sam Coates, the union is now moving forward plans to divorce the party at their annual conference in September. Speeding things up by an entire year…
The row supposedly “isn’t really about Keir Starmer“, though there’s no love lost between Unite boss Sharon Graham and Keir Starmer (or even Angela Rayner). Instead, it is a broader dissatisfaction with the entire Labour project and its failure to “deliver” for workers. The Fire Brigades Union has already called time on Starmer’s leadership. Now Unite is looking to pull the plug as well. How much did Unite donate to Labour last year? Around £1.6 million…
Unite is holding Birmingham to ransom with bin strikes, announcing last week the industrial action will continue and could go on until Christmas. While the rubbish is piling high, the union has launched another “European solidarity tour” against French waste company Veolia across sunny destinations from France to Spain. All funded by its membership subs…
Unite is in a dispute with Veolia over a recognition row in Sheffield, where Veolia already has a long-standing agreement with GMB – the union representing most staff. GMB has warned that recognising Unite could trigger counter-disputes and mass disruption to Sheffield’s waste services. Bin workers there have been on strike since last August…
Unite staff have jaunted off to Lyon, Marseille, Cannes, Barcelona and are now currently in Frankfurt to protest against Veolia, with Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham declaring: “Anyone who does business with Veolia will hear from Unite no matter where in the world they may be. Veolia needs to officially recognise Unite in Sheffield and needs to do so now”. Nice jolly if you can get it…
Unite, which is currently Labour’s largest donor, has attacked Reeves’ multi-year Spending Review. Despite the Chancellor talking up co-operation with the unions over the parliament…
General secretary Sharon Graham says:
“Instead of the presentation of false trade-offs – defence but not international aid, cuts to disability benefits but no tax on the super-rich. Labour needs to set out a clear vision that people can see and feel and then they need to finance it… Today was a missed opportunity to lay out the funding to tackle key issues, including the energy costs crippling British industry and the local authority debt which is straight-jacketing services in our communities. Spending cuts will be seen as austerity, those are the facts. Labour needs to pick up the pace on change otherwise it will be stuck in the political slow lane while other voices get louder.”
Unite praises spending on Sizewell, the winter fuel U-turn and steel industry investment but says in the same sentence the “spending review lacks the vision to deliver the fundamental change needed for everyday people.” Graham also says Reeves’ fiscal rules need to change to allow for massive borrowing. Unions starting to muscle in…
Unite handed Labour £414,610 – a significantly larger sum than the second largest £347,562.68 provided by Unison. Labour may soon find itself following the money…
Wes Streeting and Labour ministers have been pleading with junior doctors in the BMA to not strike over pay this summer. Meanwhile Unite is raging at the “insultingly low” 3.6% pay offer its NHS staff have got from the government and today said it will ballot them for strike action. Back for more…
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:
“The Government’s answer is a substandard award that is below inflation and is an insult to NHS staff. This offer does nothing to address low pay in the NHS, which hovers perilously close to the legal minimum. How can this possibly be fair or begin to improve staffing in the NHS?”
NHS workers in England will vote on 16 June, while NHS workers in Wales will vote on 9 June. Summer of discontent inbound…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”