Unite boss to face leadership challenge amid concerns over rise of Reform

Sharon Graham, the leader of the UK’s second biggest union, Unite, is to face a challenge as general secretary over claims the union is not doing enough to challenge the rise of Reform UK . Simon Dubbins, who started out as a print worker and has been an international director with the union since 2008, will announce on Tuesday that he has secured the required number of nominations to mount a challenge. Graham was criticised by some within the union movement last week for her attack on the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, and his net zero agenda, which she said would be a “ noose around the neck ” of job creation. She supports more drilling for fossil fuels in the North Sea. A senior trade union source said there was widespread unease that Graham’s anti-Miliband, pro-drilling stance played into the hands of Reform’s leader, Nigel Farage. “[Graham’s] interventions are boosting Farage and his crypto backers. And her attack on Ed played right into the hands of the Labour right,” the source said. Unite has members in almost every sector of the economy and Dubbins’ team say they have the backing of more than 250 workplaces, including some of the union’s largest branches. Dubbins said: “Our campaign for a new start for our union has won overwhelming backing from our organised membership in half the usual time. …