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The general secretary of Unite has overruled the union’s Wales secretary and reinstated a number of lay officials who had been suspended from office for backing Julie Morgan in the Welsh Labour deputy leadership race.

Earlier this week Andy Richards, who runs the UK’s largest union in Wales, took action against at least three officials who had appeared in a video backing the campaign of Cardiff North AM Ms Morgan.

Unite is officially supporting her rival, Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris, following a decision made by a small number of officials.

Under Welsh Labour’s electoral college system, unions and other affiliated organisations have one third of the say in who wins the contest.

A further third of the votes are held by the party’s MPs, AMs and MEP, with the remainder being cast by ordinary party members.

On April 9 Mr Richards wrote to the affected lay officials saying a series of three complaints had been made about them.

The complaints included: “That you have allowed yourself to appear in a video used by an outside organisation which made unauthorised use of the Unite and Unite Wales logo.

"That you have allowed yourself to appear in a video used by an outside organisation which featured an attack upon Unite’s balanced energy policy which contravenes our rules and jeopardises our members’ jobs.

"That you have allowed yourself to appear in a video used by an outside organisation which publicly voiced support for a candidate in an election who is opposing a Unite sponsored candidate.”

The second point is understood to refer to Ms Morgan’s support for a nuclear free Wales.

Mr Richards told the lay officials he had asked Deputy Wales Secretary Gareth Jones to carry out a disciplinary investigation.

In the mean time their credentials to act as representatives of the union were suspended “with immediate effect”.

Now Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has reinstated the lay officials, telling them: “I have reviewed the situation regarding your suspension from holding office.

“I understand the circumstances surrounding the Regional Secretary’s action and the difficult situation this placed him in, in defending the integrity of Unite Wales.

“I have, however, decided to lift your suspension with immediate effect in the belief that this will assist in repairing any fractures that have emerged.”

A friend of some of the suspended officials said: “I’m pleased the Unite team nationally have shown leadership on this issue, which unfortunately has been so lacking in Wales.

“Members rightly have the chance to have their say. Debates and elections should be won by argument, not by suspending those who share a different view.

“There are still a lot of questions over what action will now be taken against those who made this unfortunate decision to silence hard-working members of our union.”

A spokeswoman for Julie Morgan’s campaign said: “This is the right decision. Of course union members should be able to express support for whichever candidate they choose.

“It was shocking that lay officials backing Julie had their ability to represent their members taken away from them.”

Mr Richards was asked to comment, but did not respond to our request.

The deadline for voting in the deputy leadership election is noon on April 18.