British Labour party’s refusal to back strikes by public sector workers over the past months has cost it nearly half a million pounds in donations.
According to the latest figures published by Britain’s Electoral Commission, the Labour party has received £2.9 million in donations in the three months to the end of June 2012 that is £478,000 lower than the year’s first quarter after trade unions cut their funding to protest Labour leader Ed Miliband’s aloof attitude to public sector employees’ strikes.
Labour got 38 percent of parties’ total income -- only second to the Conservative party -- of £7.9 million and received two thirds of it from unions including Britain’s biggest union, Unite, which handed £840,275 to the party.
However, its loss of income is especially embarrassing as it represents almost half of the overall £992,312 drop in unions’ earnings in the second quarter of 2012.
The Conservative party bagged around £3.8 million equal to 48 percent of the donations that was down almost £300,000 on the previous quarter.
AMR/HE
