New donation figures released today by the Electoral Commission show how over 70 per cent of all Labour’s funding in the last quarter came from the trade unions.
"While the Conservative Party continues to widen its base of support, the only people backing Labour are the unions", said Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles.
The figures also show how Unite, the trade union behind the BA strikes and whose political director Charlie Whelan is back spinning for Gordon Brown, have donated nearly 40 per cent of all funds to the Labour Party - £1.5 million.
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Trade unions give over 70 per cent of all Labour’s money. Trade unions gave nearly £3 million to Labour in the first quarter of 2010, over 70 per cent of all funding received by the Labour Party.
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Unite the biggest trade union backer. Unite gave over half of all the money the Labour Party received from trade unions and nearly 40 per cent of all the Labour Party’s funding at the start of 2010.
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Labour losing support and failing to widen support base. Labour is failing to widen its base of support with a 10 per cent drop in the number of individuals between Q4 2009 and Q1 2010 (88 donors to 79 donors).
Since 2001, trade unions have donated nearly
£90 million to the Labour Party, representing
three-fifths of all Labour donations.
"How can Gordon Brown stand up for British business and British passengers when his election campaign takes millions from striking unions?", Pickles added.
"Only by voting Conservative on Thursday will you get a new government that starts cleaning up the mess on Friday."