Bolton’s Andrea Egan has won the race to become the next general secretary of Unison, Britain’s biggest trade union.
Egan beat incumbent Christina McAnea, an ally of prime minister Keir Starmer, by 60% to 40% in a vote of union members and will begin her five-year term in January.
Her election marks the first time that a lay member of the union – rather than a paid official – has been elected general secretary.
In a statement following her victory, Egan said: “This result 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.”
A critic of Kier Starmer was expelled from the party in 2022 for sharing two articles from Socialist Appeal, a proscribed Marxist group, despite the group not having been proscribed when she shared the first article. She never received a response to her appeal.
