Tories plan attack on union political funds

The Conservative Party has given yet another indication to the party’s national newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, that they are going to attack the unions if they get in power. This time it is over unions' political funds.

The Daily Telegraph reports: “Currently, unions only need to ask members every 10 years if they want to contribute to their political funds, which also includes spending on campaigning and lobbying.

“Around £8 million a year is channelled through the political funds to Labour party coffers in this way.

“Under the Tory plans, union members would have to choose to contribute to the political fund every time they pay their annual subscription.

“Asking individual union members to tick a box supporting Labour every year was a key sticking point in talks to reform party funding which collapsed amid acrimony two years ago.

“Mr Cameron has pointed out that many union members are not Labour supporters and yet are often unwilling contributors to the party”.

Cameron seems all too willing to attack something he apparently knows nothing about — the expensive hoops that unions have to go through at present to maintain a political fund — while being very coy about the tax status of his own party’s deputy chairman and large financial backer, Lord Ashcroft.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/7223662/David-Cameron-to-take-on-the-unions-by-scrapping-automatic-funding-of-Labour.html