Angela Rayner has been warned that her plan to hand trade unions more power – which will also gift Labour millions of pounds extra a year – breaks human rights laws.
As part of her reforms to employment rights, the party's deputy leader is scrapping a Tory-era requirement for union members to opt in if they want to contribute towards political funds.
Under the plan, workers who join unions will once more be automatically signed up to pay a political levy from their subs.
There will be no refund mechanism if members choose to opt out, and they will have to be sent a reminder only once every ten years that they are paying into political funds.
The move in the Employment Rights Bill will massively benefit Labour as figures show that a decade ago, before the opt-in was introduced, £10million of the £22million raised by affiliated unions went to the party.
