Wareing claims ballot-rigging over job

Aug 31 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

A LIVERPOOL MP fighting deselection has urged Gordon Brown to investigate sensational claims of “ballot-rigging” in a last-gasp bid to save his job.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, West Derby MP Bob Wareing alleges that two trade unions, Amicus and Usdaw, fiddled their votes to get rid of him.

The veteran left-winger has asked Mr Brown to intervene in the increasingly-bitter dispute, just weeks before he is likely to be forced to stand down. In his letter, Mr Wareing alleged that:

Amicus cast six votes for his deselection, despite five branches originally voting for the MP. Fresh ballot forms were sent out, because they “made a mistake”.

Usdaw cast 10 votes to deselect him, despite two branches prom- ising Mr Wareing their support and one of them definitely filling in its ballot paper in his favour.

With regard to the Amicus votes, Mr Wareing wrote: “What a coincidence that all five branches made the same mistake. Can you imagine, at a general election, an elector claiming he had filled in his ballot paper wrongly and being given a fresh one?”

On Usdaw, Mr Wareing said: “One branch secretary told me she had signed the ballot in my favour. Yet the ballot form I actually saw at regional office was against me. Strange, isn’t it?”

Urging the Prime Minister to intervene, he protested: “Without this ballot-rigging by two of the unions, I would have been reselected months ago.” Last night, Usdaw fiercely denied any wrongdoing, insisting the allegations had been investigated by both Labour’s regional office and its ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).

Mike Aylward, the union’s North West divisional officer, said: “They were both satisfied our ballot forms were submitted in accordance with the rules of the trigger ballot.”

But an Amicus branch secretary admitted he was “unhappy” about the way the vote was carried out, though insisting it was within the rules.

David Minahan, of Amicus’s Liverpool Insurance branch, said an official had mistakenly returned the ballot paper in favour of the MP, because he was Amicus-sponsored.

However, the union’s rules were for all branches to cast a block vote. With no time for the regional committee to meet, the national executive decided the vote against Mr Wareing.

Mr Minahan said: “I don’t think it’s very democratic and I sympathise a great deal with Bob, but it’s in the rule book that was agreed by the annual conference.”

The national office of Amicus, now part of the merged Unite union, did not return calls from the Daily Post. Neither did the Labour party.

Mr Wareing’s name will be on a six-strong shortlist for a fresh vote to pick Labour’s candidate on September 16. The list will be announced on Sunday.

However, the serial rebel, who has voted against the Labour whip up to 100 times, may have been undermined by losing sup- port from his long-time union sponsors.

davidbartlett