THE GMB union voted against consulting its membership on disaffiliating with the Labour Party on Sunday amid fears it would help Reform UK into government.

Southern region delegates called for the membership to be consulted on keeping the historic affiliation, building a new workers party and funding political candidates outside Labour.

The debate, which lasted for more than an hour, came after a poll for the Times suggested trade union members were as likely - 28 per cent — to vote for Reform UK as Labour. Among GMB members, the far-right party had a 9 per cent lead on Labour.

Hitting out at the “brutal anti-worker attacks” carried out by the Labour government, delegate Ali Haydor told delegates in Blackpool: “If we are honest, more and more workers are looking elsewhere.”

He said that his motion calls for “democracy and consultation — a discussion about our relationship with Labour. A serious debate about whether working people need a new political voice rooted in a union movement.

“Last month’s elections clearly showed the working class have left the Labour Party, because the Labour Party has left the working class.”

Delegates heard other union members are having similar discussions about the Labour Party.

Gerry Hackett, seconding, said: “Many working people are asking serious questions about political representation and our union needs to be part of that discussion.”

Southern delegate Rob Stirling moved a motion calling for a consultation on continuing GMB’s affiliation to Labour.

Since the rise of New Labour in the 1990s, he said: “I’m sure there are people in this room who have been suspended, bullied or simply made so uncomfortable in that party that they are no longer members.

“We have increasingly seen unions being sidelined and ignored by Labour.

“We have to ask ourselves, ‘Are Labour still the party of trade unions?’ and do we want to be affiliated to them?

“The membership has the right to decide.”

Dave Douglas, arguing for the GMB’s central executive committee statement for keeping the affiliation, said: “Current polling shows that Reform is in front with trade union members — is that a political alternative for our union?”

Arguing against Mr Haydor’s motion, North East, Yorkshire & Humber regional president Farzana Jumma said: “It opens the door to the far right that causes further hate and division with Reform.”