Councillors must declare union links

The Government argues taxpayers deserve to know councillors’ trade union connections when councils regularly allow employees, known as “pilgrims”, to pursue union activities in work time.

Kirklees Conservatives recently criticised the council for employing the equivalent of more than 20 staff engaged in union work at a cost of £750,000.

Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis said: “These transparency reforms will give local people the confidence that their councillors are putting residents’ interests before their own.”

But Chris Read, a Labour member of Rotherham Council, said councillors already routinely declared their union memberships alongside disclosures of their financial interests.

He said: “A year ago the Tories said this was unnecessary bureaucracy; now it seems that decision doesn’t fit their wider political agenda.

“The Minister can be reassured that most of us never stopped declaring any trade union membership, plus membership of any other body that may seek to influence public policy, alongside our employment and any other sources of income.”