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Unite, the union, has given more than half a million pounds to 88, mostly left-leaning, Labour MPs after deliberately cutting funding to the party headquarters following Sir Keir Starmer’s shift to the centre ground.
The union, which has more than a million members, was the single most generous donor to the Labour party under previous leaders Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn.
But the union has switched its strategy to giving most of its donations to a phalanx of left-wing MPs rather than the party itself.
So far this year, 88 Labour MPs have declared £573,900 from Unite, according to FT analysis of the newly updated MPs’ register.
In the first three months of this year, Unite gave donations of £380,000 to the party itself. But it did not provide any funding to the central Labour party during the general election campaign.
This compares to the £42mn the union provided to Labour over the 10 years from 2010 to 2020, when Milliband and Corbyn were at the helm, including nearly £7mn in 2019, the year of the general election when Corbyn was leader.
But as Starmer has shifted towards the centre ground — and embraced business leaders — the union’s financial support has dwindled, at least to the central administration.
In June, Unite’s leader Sharon Graham refused to endorse Labour’s election manifesto at a so-called “Clause V” gathering of union leaders and party officials.
Graham criticised Labour’s policy of blocking new oil and gas licences in the North Sea and said the party’s package of employment reforms, known as the “New Deal”, had been diluted too far.
The recipients of the donations — many given in June or July 2024 — were mostly on the left and included John McDonnell, Barry Gardiner, Clive Lewis, Dawn Butler, Jon Trickett and Rebecca Long Bailey. Donations tended to range between £5,000 and £10,000 per MP.
The only current cabinet ministers declaring Unite donations during the period were deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and transport secretary Louise Haigh, who are two of the more left-wing figures in senior government positions.
Unite said it had given money to a further 18 Labour candidates who had failed to win election, taking its total to 106 donations worth about £646,000.
A spokesperson said Graham had made it clear when she first became leader that Unite’s focus would be on jobs, pay and conditions of workers.
“She also made it clear that there would be no blank cheques for Labour. She has stayed true to her word,” he said.
“Labour’s position on oil and gas workers, and workers’, rights meant Unite could not support the election manifesto or give money centrally. Therefore, Unite supported 106 MPs that have a track history of supporting workers. We are not interested in the factional politics of the past. Unite is here to win for workers”.
Unite was by far the most generous individual union donor to Labour MPs in the 12 months to August of this year.
Unison — with around 1mn members — also gave £376,969 to 67 MPs, GMB gave £372,632 to 72 MPs, and Usdaw gave £247,882 to 45 MPs, according to FT calculations based on the register.
Unison also gave £1.5mn to the Labour party during the election campaign.
This article has been corrected after publication. The amount that Unite gave to MPs has been amended in the headline from £500mn to £500,000.
Visual and data team: Martin Stabe, David Djambazov, Zdravko Hvarlingov, Ivan Nikolov