2:00pm Thursday 18th March 2010
By Laura Kitching
SOUTH Dorset MP Jim Knight has defended the £6,560 given to his constituency party by the Unite union.
The Employment Minister is said to have received the donations since the third quarter of 2005, according to figures released by the Conservatives.
Mr Knight is among 13 Cabinet ministers, including Gordon Brown and Ed Balls, whose constituency parties have received £33,042.38 of Unite funding since the third quarter of 2005. Mr Knight is reported to have received more than any of his colleagues.
This week the Conservatives published a dossier, which they say lays bare how Unite political officer Charlie Whelan – Mr Brown’s former spin doctor – is now ‘controlling’ Labour politicians, policies and the party’s election campaign.
The union, which is behind the British Airways planned four-day strike at Easter, is believed to have donated 25 per cent – £11million – of Labour’s income over four years.
Mr Knight said: “I actually don’t know how much they’ve given my constituency party, I don’t handle any of the money.
“Obviously I know we get donations from Unite among others and I’m grateful for that, particularly because those donations come from members of trade unions.
“Many of them choose to pay an addition on their subscription called the political levy, which they vote on regularly to choose which political party to support.
“So if Unite are giving a lot of money to support my constituency, which they are, that’s money from many ordinary working people within and outside the constituency who want a Labour voice in Dorset and in Parliament.”
The Conservative dossier claims the union’s influence on the Labour Party has ‘watered-down’ public services reforms, including ditched plans for the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail, freezing voluntary groups, charities and private providers out of providing NHS services and welfare reform plans.
Labour has also been criticised for not condemning the union for its role in the proposed BA strike.
Mr Knight said: “It’s total nonsense.
“This government has been taking a firm line about the BA strike – we don’t think it’s the right thing to happen.
“I don’t think any other Government in history has been more pragmatic and practical about using the private sector where we think it will improve public services.
“This is just a smokescreen to distract from the fact that the Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft gave £29,000 to the South Dorset Conservative candidate Ed Matts at the 2005 election to try and claim my seat, which happily failed.
“I don’t know how much he’ll be donating this time.
“It’s much more worrying when donations are from somebody who doesn’t pay tax in this country – despite promising to when he was made a member of the House of Lords 10 years ago.
“That’s much more concerning than trade union members trying to support the Labour Party.”
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