Labour's reliance on the trade unions for cash is starker than ever

Today has seen the publication of the donations to political parties for the first quarter of this year, and they show Labour being even more reliant than ever on the unions for cash:

• Between Q4 2009 and Q1 2010 (there was a 10% drop in the number of individual donors to Labour (88 down to 79);
• Trade unions gave £2.9 million to Labour in Q1 2010 out of a total of £4.1 million - equivalent to 71% of the total;
• Unite (political director: Charlie Whelan) gave a total of £1.5 million to Labour in Q1 2010, representing 38% of all donations received by Labour; that represented 53% of all union donations, which totalled £2.9 million;
• 61% of all donations to Labour since 2001 have now come from trade unions - £89.4 million out of £147.4 million.

Jonathan Isaby