Andrea Egan has been elected the new general secretary of Unison beating the incumbent Christina McAnea in a major blow to Keir Starmer.
Egan was elected with 59.82 per cent of the vote, to McAnea’s 40.18 per cent. She will take over as general secretary on 22 January 2026. McAnea, who has been general secretary since 2021, has been a close ally to the Prime Minister. Her defeat is a sour end to a turbulent year for the government. McAnea’s departure will deprive Starmer of support on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC), shifting the balance of power among trade union leaders firmly towards the Prime Minister’s critics.
The battle between the two candidates has widely been viewed as a mirror of wider divisions on the left. Egan, who was expelled from Labour for sharing articles from the Marxist group Social Appeal, was backed by the left-wing MP, John McDonnell, as well as Your Party’s Jeremy Corbyn. She has previously spoken about how Unison might work with Corbyn’s new left-wing force going forward.
McAnea, on the other hand, is known to have a close relationship with the current Labour leadership and has been one of Starmer’s strongest allies. She has, however, been critical of the government in recent months and, in a recent interview with Laura Kuenssberg, questioned whether the Prime Minister would still be in post following the local elections next May.
The union’s left-wing groups united around Egan, a former social worker from Bolton, to avoid splitting support. During the campaign, she was vocally critical of Starmer and his government, telling the New Statesman, “There’s a depth of feeling at the minute… I might not be speaking to the right people, but I am speaking to hundreds of people who are so unhappy with Labour”. Egan said the Labour leadership’s conduct has left an “an awful lot of dissatisfaction, unhappiness, bitter disappointment” among party members and the trade unions. Following her victory, Egan said her win means “ordinary Unison members are at long last taking charge of our union. We will put faith in members’ decisions and stand up to any employer, politician or cabinet minister who acts against our interests.”
Of Egan’s victory, a Labour left trade union official said, “the Labour right are always on borrowed time because no matter how much they wish to, they cannot eradicate democracy in the Labour movement.” They described this as the “most devastating defeat for the nasty apparatchiks in Downing Street” since “Corbyn’s victory in 2015.”
Unison – which has 1.3m members – is one of Labour’s biggest financial backers. The union has two seats on Labour’s NEC and backed Starmer’s leadership bid in 2020, as well as Bridget Phillipson’s candidacy for deputy leadership earlier this year. Unison’s support was crucial – alongside GMB and Usdaw – in rewriting Labour’s rulebook to the disadvantage of the party’s left in 2021. Egan is highly unlikely to be as cooperative with the party’s current leadership, adding to the pressure on this already strained administration.
Egan’s victory, however, could be good news for some of Starmer’s rumoured challengers, namely the mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, and the former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner. Speaking to the New Statesman ahead of the race, Egan praised both figures. She told the NS Burnham would make “quite a good leader” and pointed out that the departure of Rayner from the front benches removed one of the few senior figures in government who had a relationship with the unions.
For Burnham, Egan’s election could even have a small consequence for his journey back to Westminster. The NEC officer who decides whether the mayor of Manchester is able to step down and run to be a parliamentary candidate is expected to be the chair of the organisational subcommittee. The post is currently held by Maggi Ferncombe, Unison’s director of political strategy and transformation, who was recently elected on a two-year term. Her position, however, is in the gift of the union (unlike other lay members who are there in their own right). Egan’s election could mean more pressure on Ferncombe to support Burnham, should she wish to maintain the union’s support to run for another term.
This is a significant upset for the government as it heads into a tough five-month lead up to the May local elections. The two largest trade unions – Unite and Unison – are now led by vocal critics of this government. And with leadership speculation mounting, the loss of such a crucial ally does not bode well for the Prime Minister’s position.
[Further reading: Inside the battle for Unison’s soul]
Content from our partners
Related
Join the debate
Subscribe here to comment