Political Department

Welcome to the Political Department pages. By clicking on the various sections here you can find out more about how your union represents your interests as a Unite member in the corridors of power from your local councils through to the Labour MPs and also how we operate with the Labour MEPs in Europe.

Unite is affiliated to the Labour Party. We play an active role at all levels of the party and lobby for changes to laws and regulations at all levels to ensure your voice is heard.

We support Labour candidates at elections and will actively campaign for the return of a Labour government when the General Election comes. Whilst we are not uncritical cheerleaders of the Labour Party we do believe your interests and the interests of our great union are best served by Labour being in government rather than opposition. Many members will recall that it was the 18 years of Conservative government that created many of the problems we are still trying to put right now.

Through Labour in government we now have trade union recognition in the workplace and the ability to talk with ministers directly. These two factors alone mean we have a much greater say than we ever did have under the Conservatives.

On top of that Labour believes in investing through the recession to keep jobs and skills, to try to ensure people do not lose their homes and to tackle unemployment to ensure there is growth to bolster tax revenues. This builds on 12 years of changes which have seen the national minimum wage, infinitely better parental leave arrangements, guaranteed 4 weeks holiday plus public holidays and rights at work which the Conservatives opposed.

In these pages you can find out about who is representing Unite members in the UK and EU Parliaments and the political campaigns on workplace issues. The Political Department is active in all areas the union is active in. We value your input as a member and encourage you to have your say on the workplace and political issues that affect you.

We positively encourage all Unite members to be members of the Labour Party and to become union delegates at a local level. Through this activity we seek to influence the policy and campaigning direction of the party.

You can now receive regular updates on the political work of the union by signing up for the political e-bulletin. Just email political.bulletin@unitetheunion.org