By MARTIN BECKFORD, POLICY EDITOR Published: 00:51 BST, 1 September 2025 | Updated: 00:57 BST, 1 September 2025
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. But Ms Rayner faces embarrassment over claims that the change – which was defeated in the House of Lords in July but which she will get MPs to vote for again next month – breaches the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).Ms Rayner has been told that because there is no refund mechanism, it mirrors previous 'closed shop' cases which led the Strasbourg court to rule that mandatory union membership interferes with the Article 11 right to freedom of association. And she has been warned that if her law passes unamended, it will be challenged in the courts by union members who do not want part of their subs to go towards political causes. Angela Rayner (pictured) 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 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. Pictured: Refuse workers, trade union members and campaigners at a Birmingham bin workers protest in May But last night Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith (pictured) told the Daily Mail: 'There we have it – Rayner's union charter may be in contravention of her beloved ECHR'Tory peer and barrister Baroness Cash told Parliament: 'If the Labour Party or a political fund retains the subscription for even one second, it will have engaged unlawfully with Article 11.'Last night Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith told the Daily Mail: 'There we have it – Rayner's union charter may be in contravention of her beloved ECHR.'She ignored warnings from us about gifting unions the whip hand. She has ignored the outcry from working people about the impact on jobs. 'She has ignored the mayday from British businesses about the impact on growth. I bet she will ignore this too.'If she continues to put her head in the sand while the warning lights are flashing red, it will show she will put the interests of the unions ahead of the national interest no matter what.'But a government spokesman said: 'We are confident these changes, which revert to the long-standing previous arrangements, are compliant with the ECHR and members will be informed of their right to opt out of contributions on any form they complete to join a union.'
