There is one set of figures in Solidarity’s latest annual statement that deserves more attention than it will probably receive.
Political Fund income: £0.
Political Fund expenditure: £0.
Political Fund balance: £0.
That is not an accounting accident. It reflects a deliberate difference between Solidarity and many other British trade unions.
Solidarity does not operate a political fund. We do not use members’ money to make donations to political parties or political candidates. We are not affiliated to any political party. Our income is there to support the Union and its members.
That distinction matters.
What is a political fund?
Under trade union law, a union that wishes to spend money on certain defined political purposes must normally maintain a separate political fund.
Political spending can include activities such as supporting political parties or candidates, contributing towards election campaigning and carrying out other forms of regulated political activity. It is separate from a union’s ordinary industrial work: representing members, negotiating with employers, providing advice, campaigning on workplace issues and supporting members in disputes.
Political funds are perfectly lawful and many unions choose to operate them. They can be substantial. The Certification Officer reported in July 2026 that 21 trade unions had political funds, with the 19 unions that had supplied financial information holding a combined £29.4 million in those funds.
Some unions also make significant direct donations to political parties.
Electoral Commission records show, for example, that in October 2025 GMB gave £217,625 to the Labour Party, while USDAW gave £212,961.75.
And the flow of union money into party politics did not stop there. Electoral Commission records for 2026 include donations to Labour of £20,079 from GMB, £22,604 and £5,250 from UNISON, and £32,908 from the Communication Workers Union, alongside further cash and non-cash contributions.
Those unions are entitled to make that choice under their own rules and democratic arrangements. Solidarity has made a different choice.
Our money stays with the Union
When a Solidarity member pays their subscription, none of it is diverted into a political fund.
None of it is earmarked for a cheque to a political party. None of it is used to support a parliamentary candidate because somebody at the top of the Union prefers one party to another.
Instead, Solidarity’s resources remain available for the work members reasonably expect their trade union to do: representation, advice, casework, organising, communications, campaigning on workplace issues, supporting members in difficulty and maintaining an effective, and, politically independent union.
That is a straightforward principle.
Members’ money should work directly for members.
Our 2025 accounts show total Union income of £23,294. For an organisation of our size, every pound matters. We believe there is a stronger case for using that money on direct union activity than on subsidising political organisations with their own fundraising structures, donors and membership bases.
This approach also gives us something else of real value: political independence.
No political affiliation
Solidarity is not affiliated to the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the SNP or any other political party. We do not ask our members to share a party allegiance. That matters because a trade union is made up of workers with diverse views and backgrounds, it shouldn’t be a political tribe.
Our members will hold different political opinions. Some will vote Labour. Some Conservative. Some Reform. Some Liberal Democrat, Green, SNP or for another party or independent candidate. Others will vote for nobody at all.
They should all be equally at home in their union.
When a union formally affiliates to a political party, it creates an institutional relationship with that party. Affiliated unions may pay affiliation fees, participate in party structures and seek to influence policy from within. Supporters of that model argue that it gives organised labour a stronger political voice.
Solidarity takes another view of how best to protect its independence. We believe a union should be able to deal with any government, any minister, any MP and any political party purely on the basis of what is in the interests of its members.
If a government introduces a measure that helps working people, we should be free to welcome it. If the same government attacks workers’ interests a week later, we should be equally free to oppose it. Unions should not have to wonder whether criticism will embarrass a party to which they are financially or organisationally tied.
Nor should any politician imagine that Solidarity’s support can be purchased through party relationships or favours.
Independence means judging policies on their merits
Political independence does not mean political silence. Trade unions inevitably deal with political questions. Employment law is political. Pay in the public sector is political. Pensions, health and safety regulation, redundancy law, collective bargaining rights and the right to strike are all affected by decisions made in Parliament and government.
Solidarity will speak on all of those issues.
But we do so as a trade union, not as an adjunct to a political party. That gives us the freedom to support a proposal from one party today and criticise another proposal from the same party tomorrow. It also allows us to concentrate on issues rather than party loyalty.
Our test is simple: what does this mean for our members and for working people? Not: what does our affiliated political party think? Not: which candidate is the Union supposed to be supporting? Not: will this upset somebody at party headquarters? For Solidarity, trade unionism comes first.
A union for members of every political view
There is another reason for keeping party politics out of the Union’s finances. A member should never have to feel that part of their subscription is being used to advance a political party they personally oppose.
A Conservative-voting worker and a Labour-voting worker can face exactly the same bullying manager.
A Reform voter and a Green voter can both be unfairly selected for redundancy.
A Liberal Democrat and someone who never votes at all may stand next to one another on the same picket line.
When they need their union, their political differences are irrelevant. What joins them together is their common interest as workers. That is the solidarity which matters to us.
Different from many unions — deliberately so
Many large trade unions have long-standing political traditions and relationships. That is their decision. Ours is different.
The wider trade union movement currently holds tens of millions of pounds in political funds, and Electoral Commission records show that individual union donations to parties can run into tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time.
Solidarity’s political fund expenditure in 2025 was zero because we have no political fund. Our donations to political parties were zero. We are not affiliated to any political party. We regard that as one of the strengths of our model.
It means our limited resources can remain focused on our members. It means we preserve our political independence. And it means that people can join Solidarity without being asked, directly or indirectly, to sign up to somebody else’s political loyalties.
There is room in the trade union movement for different traditions.
Solidarity’s tradition is straightforward:
No cheques for political parties. No party line. No political masters.
Our members come first. Together we are strong.
By Maria Camara