UK union votes to maintain political fund

Members of Britain's biggest trade union have voted overwhelmingly to keep their political fund, it was announced today.

Unison said 85% of those who voted said they wanted to keep the fund, which the union uses to campaign on political and workplace issues.

General secretary Dave Prentis said: “This result is a clear indication that our members want their union to speak up for them in the political arena as well as in the workplace.”

Unison said it would campaign to repeal the law requiring unions to hold a ballot on the political fund every 10 years because they were “expensive and unnecessary”.