Michael Heaver:
Unite's workers have had enough of funding the underclass
By Michael Heaver
Don't be fooled by the banners: Unite members support the welfare cap
There are some interesting findings in Lord Ashcroft's poll of Unite members. For instance, only seven per cent plan to vote for the do-gooder Liberal Democrats while 12 per cent plan to vote for the supposedly Thatcherite Ukip.
One thing is clear in the study though: the working people within Unite have had enough of being taxed to the hilt in order to pay for the bone-idle underclass that Labour created. A huge 86 per cent of Unite members agree that the Government is right to introduce a benefit cap on each household.
Despite Labour's hysterical shrieking, the workers don't want to be popular with people who claim every benefit going in order to enjoy a lifestyle that they couldn't fund themselves. It is a stark contrast: those in Unite who get up and work versus their neighbours, friends and even family members who chose not to. Those who contribute to the system have clearly had enough of unlimited welfare payments. Rightly so.
Other findings in the poll show Unite's members to be far more Right-wing than the likes of Ed Miliband: 71 per cent of them don't think councils should have to provide sites for travellers and 59 per cent don't want to see the top rate of tax raised to 75p. Socialism isn't very popular amongst Britain's working class.
Sadly, 49 per cent of Unite members still say they'll vote Labour, but that will largely be either out of public-sector self-interest or tribal voting handed down from generation to generation fuelled by a hatred of the Tories. It isn't, tellingly, because they actually agree with the party's social or economic stances. In the long term, Labour's traditional base will increasingly migrate away from it as Labour stands up for welfare and not the working man.