Trade union members are split between supporting Labour and Reform UK, a poll has found, reflecting the breakdown of Britain’s traditional voting patterns.
A poll by JL Partners has suggested that support for the two parties from union members is tied at 28 per cent, with Labour dropping 20 percentage points in support since the 2024 election.
Several unions are affiliated to Labour and have a huge say over leadership contests. Sharon Graham, the leader of the Unite union, who has threatened to ditch the party and did not back its 2024 manifesto, told The Times the results were “damning but not surprising”.
Unite members supported Reform over Labour by six percentage points while GMB members backed the party by nine percentage points.
It means that Reform has won the backing of members at the two largest unions in the country despite Labour’s historic links to large trade unions. While union donations to Labour have declined over time, movements still gave the party a total of £2.4m in 2024.
Gary Smith, who has been largely supportive of Sir Keir Starmer, said: “Reform is no friend of workers. They want to cancel hugely important union rights and are targeting the pensions of the low paid.
“But Labour has to show working-class people it can be on their side — as it did with last week’s essential help for our ceramics industry.”
Union members have vented their fury over the government’s initial moves to cut winter fuel payments and slash spending on disability payments.
Labour officials have insisted that their funding is not dependent on unions’ support.
Reform’s tricky relationship with unions
Reform UK is meanwhile attempting to maintain popular support among workers while regularly pointing to Margaret Thatcher as a template for governance despite unions’ widespread contempt for her policies.
Its leader Nigel Farage suggested that his party was now the “party of the patriotic working class”.
Reform UK has committed to repealing the Employment Rights Act, which was backed by unions ahead of the last election, and the party has also branded itself as a low-tax party.
The polling also showed that Zack Polanski’s Green Party has gained greater support among union members, with support growing from five per cent two years ago to 12 per cent.
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