UNION leaders and MPs demanded today that the undercover police inquiry allow blacklisted union activist and leading expert Dave Smith give evidence.

Leaders of the TUC, Unite, the FBU, the NEU, the POA, GMB and NASUWT, as well as MP John McDonnell and former MP Dave Nellist, wrote in an open letter to inquiry chair Sir John Mitting asking he look further into the role of the police in blacklisting union members from construction jobs. 

Their letter follows a spycops inquiry ruling barring Mr Smith from participating in proceedings, later challenged by a Judicial Review submitted by Imran Khan KC in September.

Union general secretaries hit back after the review was refused by the High Court Judge Hon. Ms Justice Lieven, calling her decision “perverse and against the public interest.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Blacklisting is a disgraceful practice and hundreds of construction workers had their lives ruined.

“Spycops were colluding with the blacklisters in destroying the lives of ordinary trade unionists.

“Those officers must be brought to account for their actions and the facts about the backlisting collusion involving the police must be brought into the open. To block evidence in this area would be nothing short of shameful.”

The letter argued that Mr Smith was “a core participant in the inquiry” because he was “spied on by multiple undercover officers.”

It read: “The spycops compiled intelligence reports on his trade union and anti-racist activities that were then circulated to the security services.”

Considered a “leading expert” on the topic, Mr Smith is the secretary of the Blacklist Support Group and has written a book on the subject.

Their call follows revelations dating back to a 2016 High Court litigation, which suggested that some union officials had colluded with the blacklisting of their own members.

A Met internal investigation into collusion found that “police, including special branches and the security services” supplied information to the Consulting Association — funded by major construction companies.

Undercover cop Mark Jenner infiltrated construction union Ucatt, which is now part of Unite, where he spied on picket lines.

Mr Smith responded to the open letter, saying: “This industrial scale breach of human rights has gone largely unreported in the press, and to its eternal shame under investigated by the very public inquiry set up to look into it.”