Trade Union Political Fund Ballots

EDM number 257 in 2003-04, proposed by John Mann on 10/12/2003.

That this House notes that under legislation introduced by the Conservative government in 1984, trade unions wishing to contribute to political parties or engage in other political activities must establish a political fund; further notes that each union must ballot their members every 10 years on whether to retain the fund; recognises the time and expense involved in running such a ballot; believes that it is time to modernise the law in this area, accepting that unions have a natural role to play in influencing the law on behalf of their members particularly in areas such as employment law, employment relations and pensions legislation; and further believes that, as individual members have the right to opt out of paying into a political fund, the Government should amend existing legislation to remove the need for 10-yearly ballots on political funds.

This motion has been signed by a total of 132 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.