Guardian learns of scores of union branches quietly affiliating to party to get crucial say in votes

Labour-supporting trade unions are quietly affiliating scores of branches to the party – allowing those branches a vote on party positions – in key constituencies in a bid to influence future reselection battles, the Guardian has learned.

In what one senior Labour figure called a “cold war arms race”, the GMB union has been encircling supportive MPs with newly affiliated branches, all of which would have a vote in any “trigger ballot” to reselect the sitting candidate. Decisions to affiliate branches are taken at regional level.

Several MPs have also told the Guardian that Unite, whose leader Len McCluskey is a staunch supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, is actively signing up new, small-scale branches – although Unite denies the claims.

Changing the political makeup of Labour’s representatives in parliament is a key aim of Corbyn’s project to reshape his party; and the battle for the future of Labour has intensified this week after a clean sweep by leftwing candidates, including Momentum’s Jon Lansman, in the latest round of elections to the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC).



Both wings of the party are organising at grassroots level, and MPs are reporting a rash of newly affiliated branches springing up in their local area.

Unite is Labour’s largest donor, and McCluskey has previously said MPs disloyal to the leader should be “held to account”. The GMB is broadly supportive of Corbyn’s leadership but fears some of the MPs it backs in parliament could be targeted for reselection.

One MP said more than 30 GMB branches had affiliated in their area, which they believed was in preparation to defend them against possible deselection. Another MP said they had less than 10 geographical branches for members, and now a similar number of Unite and CWU branches had sprung up.

“There has been an uptick in affiliations,” the MP said. But it has been patchy and depends on the political direction of each regional director for a union and who is agitating in each constituency.”

When a Labour MP decides they want to stand for re-election, they must clear a “trigger ballot” of all their local party affiliates – including trade union branches. It has been rare for sitting MPs to lose such a vote; but doing so leads to a ballot of all local party members.

Corbyn’s political secretary, Katy Clark, is carrying out a wide-ranging review of party democracy aimed at getting Labour’s much-expanded membership more involved, and could recommend making it easy to reselect candidates.

A Labour source said: “Having placed so much focus on ‘party democracy’ under Jeremy Corbyn, Unite are trying to flood local parties and ensure the sword of Damocles is hung over of the heads of MPs – do as we say or we will deselect you.”

Corbyn is a longstanding member of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, which has sought reforms including compulsory reselection since the 1970s – which would involve sitting MPs automatically facing a ballot of all members.

However, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said there is no pressing need to change the current system.

Few influential Labour figures have openly supported mandatory reselection, with the exception of former frontbencher Chris Williamson and the economist and journalist Paul Mason.

The comedian Eddie Izzard, who lost his bid for a place on the NEC on Monday, urged the party’s leadership and newly elected committee members not to create new divisions.

Izzard’s comments followed an interview with Mason where he said he was in favour of mandatory reselection of MPs, though he said did not know if the Labour leader shared that view.

“If we spend all our time fighting against each other, I don’t think that’s the way to go forward,” Izzard told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “We should be further ahead of the Tory party in the polls, that’s what I want to see.”