Britain’s biggest trade union has said it will not be backing either of Labour’s deputy leadership candidates, blasting them as “more of the same”. The Unite Union, with over 1.2 million members, has confirmed it will not endorse either Lucy Powell or Bridget Phillipson.
In a brutal statement this afternoon, the union’s general secretary Sharon Graham condemned the deputy leadership contest as “irrelevant”. Ms Graham blasted: “Britain needs change, not more of the same. Workers are leaving labour in droves and tinkering will not stem the tide. Unfortunately, this election does not offer the alternative that Britain needs. For everyday people, it is irrelevant. Labour must deliver real change. We need huge investment into our crumbling infrastructure and our public services, a pay rise for British workers and end to the private profiteering that helps drive inflation.”
“Until the Government makes different choices, they will continue to haemorrhage support.”
Both Ms Powell and Ms Phillipson are fighting to take the job, made vacant by the resignation of Angela Rayner over her housing scandal.
Unite added that neither “represents the change required within the Labour Party.”
This morning Ms Phillipson did receive a boost as the GMB Union became the first major union to declare its backing for her.
The Education Secretary said “It is humbling to receive the nomination of my own trade union.”
It comes as Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham sparked civil war last night as he openly mulls challenging Keir Starmer for the party’s leadership.
With just days to go until Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, Andy Burnham said MPs have been urging him to run.
Mr Burnham warned: “The challenge we’ve got in front of us cannot be met by a very factional and divisive running of this party.”
He called for higher council tax on expensive southern homes, £40billion of extra borrowing to build council housing, tax cuts for the lowest paid and raising the top rate of income tax to 50p.
However in an astonishing round of red-on-red, a government source said Mr Burnham’s plans would bankrupt the country.
A government source told the Sun: “Andy’s economic plan is to crash the economy and push up mortgage rates.
“It’s not serious and the Blairite Burnham from the 2000s knows it.”
