Labour relies on union cash

The Labour Party was heavily reliant on trade union money in the third quarter of 2002, according to figures from the party finance watchdog the Electoral Commission.

Nearly 90 pence out of every pound received at the Party headquarters came from the unions.

A total of £2,314,700 was given centrally to the Labour Party in the third quarter of last year of which £2,023,550 - 87% - came from the unions.

Six unions gave over £100,000 in donations and affiliation fees. The biggest sum - £654,000 - came from public sector union UNISON.

The other five large gifts were from USDAW (£237,605), Amicus AEEU (£236,283), T&G general union (£229,325), Amicus MSF (£150,858) and CWU (£142,925).