Did Unite tamper with grandmother's statement? Key witness's bombshell accusation in Falkirk Labour vote-rigging storm



Whistleblowe r has rejected claims by Unite that she ha d withdrawn her story

Lorraine Kane triggered major probe into alleged electoral corruption

Led to claims that she and others had been signed up as Labour members without agreement in bid by union of manipulate candidates' selection



T he whistleblower at the centre of Labour’s vote-rigging scandal last night sensationally rejected claims by Unite that she had withdrawn her story.



Lorraine Kane triggered a major probe into alleged electoral corruption when she revealed her family had been signed up to the Labour Party without their consent. It happened as Unite activists were waging a bitter battle to seize control of the safe Labour seat of Falkirk, where she lives.



This led to claims that she and others had been signed up as Labour members without their agreement in a bid by the union to manipulate the candidates’ selection. They allegedly hoped to flood the seat with members who they thought could be persuaded to back Unite’s choice to be the party’s prospective MP.

The whistleblower at the centre of the Labour vote-rigging scandal, which saw Karie Murphy (right) become the front-running candidate for the Falkirk seat vacated by Eric Joyce (left), says she has not withdrawn her story

Lorraine Kane, from Falkirk (pictured), Scotland, triggered a major probe into alleged electoral corruption when she revealed her family had been signed up to the Labour Party without their consent

The investigation into Mrs Kane’s case was dropped suddenly in September, after Unite officials produced documents stating that she had withdrawn her claims.



But, speaking for the first time, Mrs Kane, 61, told the Mail: ‘I did not change the testimony. I did not change anything. I did not withdraw anything.’ She is now demanding to know whether the evidence she gave was tampered with by Unite.



‘I want all the emails to see what’s what,’ she said. ‘I haven’t seen them. This has been going on for months. I don’t know what the emails are saying. I want to see everything so I know what was said and if anything was changed from what I said.’



Her statement is entirely at odds with public claims made by the union. Only today Unite leader Len McCluskey said: ‘The evidence from the families has been withdrawn’, adding that Unite had ‘no case to answer.’



Mrs Kane’s bombshell claims appear to undermine the grounds on which Labour leader Ed Miliband closed his investigation into the vote-rigging allegations.



They came as shocking evidence emerged of the practices Labour investigators uncovered at Falkirk.



Labour has refused to publish its findings but yesterday leaked extracts of its initial inquiry were published.



Murphy, a Unite official, is close to Len McCluskey (above). So close, indeed, that the nature of their relationship has been questioned by Labour officials

They suggested that Unite activists falsified up to 112 membership documents, forging signatures on many, and ‘coerced’ and ‘badgered’ constituents into signing direct debit forms. In some cases they even paid the joining fees themselves to get more members on the books and established a secret system for signifying those signed up ‘specifically for the selection’.



Last night Labour supporters and critics demanded that Mr Miliband publish the full report into the alleged vote-rigging.



‘We’ve heard umpteen reports, allegations, suppositions as to what did or did not happen. We can’t tell fact from fiction. We can’t tell what is and is not being spun,’ a local party spokesman said.



‘I want him to publish the report, the constituency wants him to publish the report, everyone I’ve spoken to wants him to publish the report. If errors have been made, then what you do is you get them on the table, you discuss them, you learn from them, and you move on.’



Conservative MP Priti Patel said: ‘These incendiary revelations show the full extent of Unite’s infiltration of the Labour party. But still Ed Miliband refuses to hold a proper inquiry, or to publish Labour’s internal report. This is further evidence that the Unite union tried to dupe Ed Miliband.



‘Yet despite calling it “bad practice”, Ed Miliband backed down in the face of pressure from Unite boss and Labour Party paymaster Len McCluskey.



‘From day one Miliband has shown that he is too weak to stand up to the trade unions. If Ed Miliband was forced into a deal with Unite to avoid bad publicity during this selection, how many other dodgy deals are being struck between Labour and their trade union paymasters?’



The Labour leader’s brother David Miliband said there was ‘no place’ for the style of politics being pursued by some trade unions.



He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘Ed was right to say that he wants to reform the relationship with the unions. What you call “old politics”, rightly has no place, obviously.’



Mrs Kane wrote to Labour in March demanding to know how what information they had on her family after she discovered four of them had been enlisted as Labour members without signing any forms.



Unite activist Stevie Deans, Labour’s Falkirk constituency chairman, was trying to get Karie Murphy – a close friend Mr McCluskey –selected as Labour candidate and allegedly started a recruitment drive.

Ed Miliband's brother, David, said there was 'no place' for the style of politics being pursued by some unions

It is claimed that Mr Deans and Miss Murphy signed up people from the area - including the Kanes - without their knowledge.



Last night it emerged that Mr Deans will not be seeking re-election as constituency chairman later this month.



Linda Gow, who was running against Miss Murphy, acted as the intermediary with the Kanes in their original statements.



‘The statements were then allegedly changed,’ she told the Mail. ‘That’s murky. The Labour Party didn’t, as far as I’m aware, come back to ask the Kanes why they changed their statements, or if they changed their statements.’



After Mrs Kane made her claims, the affair was probed by Labour as well as the police.



But Mr Miliband called off the investigation in September, claiming evidence from ‘key witnesses’ had been withdrawn.

Key dates

His decision has come under increasing pressure. Last week emails showed Unite officials had themselves drafted the crucial new statement which exonerated them on Mrs Kane’s behalf.



By speaking publicly for the first time, Mrs Kane has fatally undermined Unite’s claims that it has ‘no case to answer’.



Unite has also faced furious criticism after the Mail last week revealed its shocking campaigns of bullying and intimidation against more than 60 businesses and the families and friends of bosses.

