This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Unite suspended a £10,000 donation to Labour’s West Midlands mayoral candidate, Siôn Simon, because of alleged support from the union’s leadership candidate Gerard Coyne, the acting general secretary has said.

Unite’s West Midlands regional board had approved the funding for the Labour campaign but the acting general secretary, Gail Cartmail, said she blocked the payment after receiving “overwhelming evidence that Mr Simon’s campaign and Mr Coyne’s campaign have entered into some form of a mutual support arrangement”.

The Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey, a key ally of the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is running for re-election this year challenged by Coyne, who has pledged to spend less time involving the union in Labour party politics.

Withholding funding could have severe implications for the Labour candidate, who already faces an uphill battle to defeat the Conservative candidate, Andy Street, the former John Lewis boss, who is now favourite for the mayoralty.

In a statement, Cartmail said the decision not to offer Simon’s campaign financial support at this stage was hers and McCluskey had played no part in it.

“The matter is ultimately the responsibility of Unite’s executive council, which meets next week and to whom this will be reported,” she said.

“The final decision rests there. However, Unite has been provided with overwhelming evidence that Mr Simon’s campaign and Mr Coyne’s campaign have entered into some form of a mutual support arrangement, which has included the shared use of Labour party membership data.

“The Labour party has acknowledged that this has happened, that it was unauthorised and that it should be halted.

“It is as far as I know unprecedented for a Labour party campaign to seek an agreement for support not with an affiliated trade union but with an individual himself campaigning for elected office within that union.

“However, neither Mr Simon nor Mr Coyne have explained the nature of their agreement, what provisions it might include, nor how and why it was arrived at.

“Under these circumstances, Unite cannot make a donation to Mr Simon’s campaign, since there are no guarantees that such money would not be used to support Mr Coyne’s campaign and thereby interfere in Unite’s own democratic processes.”

The union earlier this week said most Unite branches have backed McCluskey in his bid to be re-elected. He has been nominated by 1,185 branches representing 559,000 members, more than five times the total of his nearest rival.

Coyne is backed by 187 branches representing 98,000 members and Ian Allinson has 76 nominations covering 37,000 members. Voting ends on 19 April.