Labour in pockets of union who brought Birmingham to its knees (2025)

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A quarter of Keir Starmer's ministers belong to the militant union behind the Birminghambin strikes crisis, it can be revealed.

Of the Labour Government's 108 ministers, 28 are card-carrying members of the hardline Unite union.

They include Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.

It means their membership fees are helping to fund the strike pay which Unite is doling out to refuse workers.

Workers lose pay for every day they strike. But sources say Unite is handing striking workers as much as £100 for each day they keep the crippling six-week campaign going.

Meanwhile, a Mail analysis reveals nearly a quarter of Labour's 403 MPs have pocketed cash from Unite barons. The 92 MPs have raked in a whopping £600,000 over the past year.

Many of them relied on donations from the union's far-Left bosses to fight their campaigns in last year'sgeneral election.

Critics last night said it proved the unions were Labour's 'paymasters' and explained why the Government has failed to get a grip of the crisis and step in to resolve it on behalf of Birmingham residents, who have endured weeks of misery caused by piles of rubbish and filth building up.

While ministers have urged workers to accept the deal on the table from Labour-run Birmingham City Council, they have been noticeably reluctant to outright condemn the union publicly.

About 22,000 tons of rubbish have piled up on the city's streets, with residents reporting 'rats as big as cats' rifling through the bin bags.

Tory justice spokesman Robert Jenrick told the Mail: 'Labour have proven themselves totally unfit to govern Birmingham. It is shameful that Labour MPs are making hundreds of thousands of pounds out of the unions who are inflicting such misery on residents.

'Labour have shown they will always put their union paymasters above the interests of the British public.'

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'The unions are Labour's paymasters at the end of the day. The extent to which they are is truly terrifying. But this should not surprise anyone.

'They're soft when it comes to the unions and always cave into them, and that's payback for all the donations they've given Labour over the years.'

It comes amid wider fears about a 'summer of discontent', with Unite threatening to continue the bin strikes and expand action to other parts of the country.

The current strike mandate in Birmingham lasts until September and talks with Birmingham council are deadlocked, meaning it could drag on until then.

This week teachers also threatened to strike unless the Government's 2.8 per cent pay rise offer for most public sector workers is improved.

Unions for civil servants, university staff and resident – previously known as junior – doctors are also threatening walkouts.

It comes just months after the Government capitulated to militant unions, handing them inflation-busting pay hikes of up to 22 per cent.

The move forced Chancellor Rachel Reeves into hiking taxes in her autumn Budget and has drastically limited her breathing space as Donald Trump's trade war blows up growth forecasts.

If the Government is forced into offering more than 2.8 per cent to public sector workers, she may have to come back for more tax rises or spending cuts this Autumn.

Most of the Labour MPs who have pocketed cash from Unite did so to fund their campaign in last year's election. Among them is Ms Rayner, who has taken £10,000 from Unite since June last year.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is Sir Keir's Brexit negotiator, has banked £5,000 in donations while justice minister Alex Davies-Jones raked in £10,000. Derby South MP Baggy Shanker (£24,000) was the biggest beneficiary.

Former transport secretary Louise Haigh, who resigned in disgrace over a previously undisclosed criminal conviction which came to light not long after she had handed rail unions inflation-busting pay hikes of 15 per cent for train drivers, received £10,000 from the union.

The figures on ministers who belong to Unite includes government whips.

Labour was contacted for comment.

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