Labour MP Angela Eagle, the shadow leader of the Commons, said yesterday that the new Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trades Union Administration Bill has been designed to ‘divert attention away from allegations the Conservatives had offered dinners for party donors in Downing Street’ and is ‘cheap, partisan attack on Labour funding.’ These points are true and reflect current Westminster preoccupations, but worse than both is the attempt to remove trade unions from politics by severely limiting political fund expenditure in the full year leading up to a General Election:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/house-of-commons-23355888
The Bill also proposes more state interference in trade unions with a requirement for independent audit of union membership figures (something the far less democratic and transparent political parties will not be subjected to)and further powers for the Certification Officer to encroach on trade union autonomy in breach of ILO conventions:
http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/0/6C7EBC972A59727280257BAC00396B40
