Mark Serwotka, the leader of one of the UK’s biggest trade unions, has been banned from voting in the Labour leadership election.

Serwotka, the head of the PCS union for civil servants, is among 3,200 people who have been prevented from voting on the grounds of not sharing Labour values, after he signed up as a supporter.



It was revealed by his wife, who said on Twitter that she had received a text message from him about being purged along with a reminder to put the bins out.

Mark been prevented from voting in a Labour Movement election as an affiliated member. I'm very interested to hear the reasons. #LabourPurge — Ruth Serwotka (@ruthserwotka) August 25, 2015

Ruth Serwotka, whose profile picture carries an I’ve Voted Corbyn banner, tweeted: “Mark been prevented from voting in a Labour Movement election as an affiliated member. I’m very interested to hear the reasons. #LabourPurge”.



Serwotka used to be a Labour member but has since expressed support for other leftwing parties at elections. In a 2011 interview with the New Statesman, which said he had flirted with George Galloway’s Respect and voted Green at the previous election, he is quoted as saying: “Growing up in Wales, it was Labour, Labour, Labour. But [since] its move rightwards and embrace of the markets, Labour doesn’t speak for me.” During the current Labour leadership campaign he has spoken at rallies in support of Jeremy Corbyn.



There has also been speculation that his exclusion could be due to his public criticism of the last Labour government, which he said in April 2010 was the worst government ever in the way it treated public sector workers.



PCS is not affiliated to Labour but Serwotka recently suggested this could be different under Corbyn.



“If Jeremy Corbyn wins, that would change everything … We wouldn’t rush into affiliating but would want to work very closely to develop policy together – and if that goes well then let’s see where we end up,” he told the FT after Corbyn’s leadership bid was announced.