Ian Allinson’s statement on the Unite General Secretary election result

The result won’t be officially declared by the Executive Council until Friday 28th April, but the votes are counted and are as follows: Len McCluskey 59067 (45.4%) Gerard Coyne 53544 (41.2%) Ian Allinson 17143 (13.2%) Spoiled papers 317 (0.2%) Total vote 130071 (turnout of 12.2%, from 1062049 ballot papers despatched) Update: full General Secretary and … Read more

After the Unite General Secretary election – what?

Ian talking with members

Voting in the Unite General Secretary election continues until 19 April, and most members won’t have voted, so the campaign is not over yet. But it is important to think about what comes after the result is declared on Friday 28 April. Whoever wins members will need to keep pushing to make Unite a stronger union. Grassroots socialist challenger Ian Allinson sets out some initial thoughts.

Many of the ideas put forward in our campaign have gained wide support – not just from those who are supporting me in this election, but also from many who backed McCluskey from fear of Coyne, and even from a few who backed Coyne, seeing him as the best chance of getting rid of McCluskey.

All meaningful change comes from below, and all meaningful change is the result of collective effort. So how can we most effectively take forward our ideas after the campaign? The ian4unite campaign is organising four post-election meetings to discuss this. If you want to push forward the broad agenda I’m campaigning for you are welcome at these meetings no matter who you have supported in the election:

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