In a warning to potential leadership candidates, Graham \u2014 the only union leader not to endorse Labour\u2019s election-winning manifesto \u2014 says the next prime minister cannot expect support from Unite members without suchchanges.<\/p>\n
She writes: \u201cIt cannot just be a question of changing the leader or improving the sales pitch. There is much agonising right now about whether, when and who should replace the prime minister. That is inevitable.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut a new Labour leader with the same policies won\u2019t cut it. Replacing Keir with Angela [Rayner<\/a>, the former deputy prime minister], Andy [Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester], Wes [Streeting, the health secretary] or Ed [Miliband, the energy secretary] won\u2019t persuade workers to return to the fold if they are just offering more of the same in a different voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Graham\u2019s terminal diagnosis of Starmer\u2019s \u201cfailing leadership\u201d and refusal to back any of the possible candidates to replace him is another sign of deteriorating relations between Unite and the Labour Party.<\/p>\n Angela Rayner is among those tipped to succeed Sir Keir Starmer<\/p>\n CAMERON SMITH\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n The union, which is the country\u2019s second-largest by membership, was Labour\u2019s biggest donor in 2025, but is increasingly estranged from the party and openly critical of ministers.<\/p>\n Unite was, until earlier this month, an outlier among the country\u2019s big trade unions in its outright hostility to Starmer<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the election of Andrea Egan, a leftwinger and Starmer critic, to lead Unison<\/a>, Britain\u2019s largest union, suggests 2026 could be defined by confrontation between Starmer, his successor and the most powerful leaders in the labour movement.<\/p>\n Graham has previously refused to rule out the possibility of Unite voting to end its affiliation to Labour at a special conference to be held as soon as next year.<\/p>\n The union also declined to exercise its right to nominate either of the candidates in this year\u2019s deputy Labour leadership election<\/a>.<\/p>\n Graham\u2019s latest intervention suggests a change of leader is unlikely to repair relations and that any candidate for prime minister who seeks her support would have to propose near-wholesale changes to government policy.<\/p>\n Graham writes: \u201cThe government needs to decide what it stands for and who it stands for. If we have to ask, it is not working.<\/p>\n \u201cThe party faithful can agonise about its failing leadership and a \u2018night of the long knives\u2019. But a new Labour leadership with the same policies simply won\u2019t cut it. The doom loop cannot be broken with more austerity lite, no matter who is in Downing Street.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Prime](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/3df3ec5d-eb53-4138-ba33-5952e9c41c83.jpg\")
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