Should union members be able to choose which party their political levy goes to?
A. I was really proud to be supported by Unite and Unison members who paid the levy. Support from Unite and Unison were very important parts of my campaign. We have a particular way of funding the levy, through check off, and I think that works. Q. How could we make better use of the resource that political levy payers are, not just for monetary support but as a group of individuals? A. Parties which neglect their base lose. And political parties which are successful and get back in to government usually start by going back and rebuilding from that base. And our base is our party members and supporters, trade union members and local government. We need to actively involve them in our campaigning from the start and encourage them to participate. We’ve done that in our anti BNP campaigning. I had a number of local trade union members, both lay and officials, come and help us in the public meetings we did in Morley and Outwood, and that was an important part of their personal development
