Dear Julie will you please sign EDM 487
A leaked draft document from the Hayden Phillips inquiry has proposed a £50,000 cap for all individuals and organisations, which would effectively break the Party-union link. The Mirror today reported that these proposals were backed by Tony Blair.
In the documents, Hayden Phillips said: "I see no reason why donations from trade unions should be exempt from the cap". Individual trade union members would also be asked annually whether they wished to opt out.
"I have today tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons in opposition to the Hayden Phillips proposals on party funding.
"These proposals are a threat not only to the historic link between the Labour Party and the trade unions but to the very existence of the Labour Party as the voice for working people in this country.
"I am calling upon all Labour leadership and deputy leadership candidates to demonstrate their opposition to these damaging proposals by signing a statement declaring their commitment to oppose the Hayden Phillips recommendations.
"It is understood that these proposals have the backing and are being promoted by the Prime Minister, with implicit support from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. There is no doubt that this move represents one of the last acts of the Prime Minister's legacy agenda to turn the Labour Party into merely a Democrat or Republican convention, unaccountable to and separated from the very members of the trade union movement who founded our Party.
"I take this issue so seriously that I am placing it at the very centre of the debate for the future of our party in this way. I will not stand by and watch Blair destroy our Party. To quote a past Labour leader, I will fight, fight and fight again to save the Party I love."
The Labour Party’s policy – unanimously agreed at conference - was for an all-year cap on expenditure, with each party free to develop its own policy on donation caps which would be notified to the Electoral Commission. The Labour Party NEC will meet on Thursday 14th December to discuss the plans.
Things you can do:
Contact your MP and your trade union or CLP representatives on the Labour Party NEC and let them know your views
Lobby your MP to sign EDM 487 'Party Funding and the Labour Party'
To find contact details go to: http://www.l-r-c.org.uk/resources/
**Want to know more about Labour's historic link with the trade unions? Why not buy 100 Years of Labour by LRC Treasurer Graham Bash & Andrew Fisher. You can buy online at http://www.100yearsoflabour.net/buythebook.htm
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