What is the position of the big trade unions on Brexit?

Theresa May took the unprecedented step of reaching out to trade union leaders this week as she made a desperate last-ditch bid to secure fresh backing for her Brexit deal.

The prime minister spoke with Unite leader Len McCluskey and GMB‘s Tim Roache to try to win them over ahead of next week’s Commons vote on the proposed agreement.

But almost all of the UK’s trade unions have been highly critical of the prime minister‘s Brexit plan, and her advances were never likely to have much of an effect.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Roache said that during the call he had been ”very clear about GMB’s position – the deal on the table isn’t good enough”.

So if they don’t like the deal that is on the table, what do Britain’s unions want from Brexit?

All of the three main unions – Unite, Unison and the GMB – say they want a withdrawal agreement that does more to protect jobs, investment and workers’ rights.

In a motion agreed at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in September, unions also demanded “tariff-free, barrier-free, frictionless trade in goods and services with the rest of Europe” – likely to mean some form of membership of the EU single market.

They are strongly opposed to a no-deal Brexit, which the TUC said would “have a profoundly damaging impact on trade and on jobs across the UK”.

Despite this shared position, there are also significant divisions between the three biggest unions.

Unite, the union closest to the Labour leadership, has a policy similar to Labour’s.

It wants a general election and an extension of Article 50 to allow an incoming Labour government to renegotiate the Brexit deal.

While Unite officially says it is “open to the possibility” of another referendum, Mr McCluskey has privately warned Labour MPs against backing a second vote, which he has publicly said “risks tearing our society further apart”.

Unison, Britain’s biggest union, has also refused to support another public poll. It too is focused on campaigning for a general election.

A poll last year found that both Unison and Unite are at odds with their members on the matter of a second referendum. Sixty-six per cent of Unison members and 59 per cent of Unite members want another vote, compared to just 22 per cent and 33 per cent respectively who disagree.

The GMB, in contrast, is openly campaigning for a fresh Brexit referendum, alongside a number of smaller unions including the TSSA, which represents transport workers.

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