Jeremy Corbyn has received a major boost in his campaign to become the next Labour party leader after Unison, one of Britain’s largest trade unions with 1.3 million members, endorsed his bid.

In a blow to rival candidate Andy Burnham, who had hoped to win the support of one of Britain’s main trade unions, the Unison general secretary, Dave Prentis, said Corbyn’s message was resonating with public sector workers whose wages had been frozen in recent years.

The union’s 23-member national Labour link committee also recommended Yvette Cooper as its second choice.

The endorsement by Unison, Britain’s main trade union for public sector workers, will help to cement Corbyn’s position as the current – and surprise – frontrunner in the leadership contest.



The Daily Mirror reported on Tuesday that Corbyn, who is already supported by Britain’s largest trade union, Unite, has opened up a 20-point lead in the contest after a YouGov/Times poll last week gave him a 17-point lead.

The Cooper and Burnham teams responded on Wednesday to the growing momentum behind Corbyn by releasing internal campaign data which they said showed they are performing strongly.

Cooper’s team said of 22,335 voters contacted between 30 June and 28 July, 8,136 people – 36% – said they were planning to support the shadow home secretary.

In second place in the team’s polling was Corbyn, with 1,255 declared backers – less than 6%. Burnham and Liz Kendall were each reported to have backing from under 4% of respondents – Burnham with 715 supporters and Kendall with just 384.



But ahead of Cooper in the polling were the don’t knows, with 9,192 people – more than 40% of respondents – saying they were still undecided.



The Burnham team’s polling found that of 29,020 eligible Labour voters contacted between 15 July and 29 July, 37.3% said they would support Burnham on their first preference, 27.6% Corbyn, 9.6% Cooper and 5.8% Kendall. Almost a fifth (19.5%) said they were undecided.

Unison leader Prentis said on Wednesday: “Jeremy Corbyn’s message has resonated with public sector workers who have suffered years of pay freezes and redundancies with too many having to work more for less. They have been penalised for too long by a government that keeps on taking more and more from them.



“Their choice shows a clear need for change towards a fairer society where work is fairly rewarded, and where those living and working in poverty are supported.

“Today’s decision is a recommendation and our members are of course free to cast their vote as to who they think should lead the Labour party.”

Corbyn welcomed the union’s support. He said: “I want to thank Unison for its nomination today. Unison members are in the frontline of the impact of the government’s austerity agenda. They are the people that provide the services our society relies on. They should be valued and heard.

UNISON the public sector union have just decided to nominate #jeremy4leader Thankyou @unisontweets pic.twitter.com/kIAHphu3JR — JeremyCorbyn4Leader (@Corbyn4Leader) July 29, 2015

“As leader of the Labour party I would promote high-quality modern public services – against outsourcing, privatisation and low pay. We are building a movement for a modern, kinder Britain, and I look forward to working with Unison members to achieve that.”

Burnham might have hoped to win the support of the main public sector trade union after his warnings, as shadow health secretary, that the Tories are trying to move towards NHS privatisation.



But he realised more than a month ago that he would not win the support of the Unison leadership but is confident many individual members will vote for him. He has won the support of the shop workers’ union, Usdaw.

The announcement by Unison came as the GMB union announced it would not endorse any candidate after failing to reach agreement. A spokesman said: “Following consultations there was no clear consensus for a recommendation for any one candidate for leader and therefore GMB will be making no recommendation in that election. Given the extensive debates and candidates’ hustings, GMB members will cast their votes for a candidate of their choice for leader in the normal way.”

The trade unions have less impact under the new leadership rules than they had in previous elections. Under the old system, in place at the time of Ed Miliband’s election in 2010, trade union members and members of other affiliated societies had a third of the votes in the electoral college system, and would send out ballot papers to their members. The Unite union plastered pictures of Ed Miliband on the envelopes containing the ballot papers.

Union members who are signed up as a registered union supporter have one vote, which carries the same weight as any other member. The main trade unions have been signing up supporters ahead of the leadership election.

Of Unison’s members, 430,000 have opted into the political fund, but

that does not entitle them to vote. Around 43,000 Unison members –

28,000 as Labour party members in their own right and a further 15,000

who have signed up as registered supporters – can vote in the contest.







