Havering Conservatives Accuse Margaret Mullane of Putting Trade Unions Before Constituents.

2nd November 20262nd November 2026 Francesca Lilleystone 0 Comments Bin Men, Havering Conservatives, Margaret Mullane MP, Strike min read

Margaret Mullane MP chose trade unions over her own constituents

By Matej Travnicek, Havering Conservatives.

I was saddened but unfortunately not surprised when I learnt that my Member of Parliament, Margaret Mullane, had joined striking bin workers at their protest outside Havering Town Hall last week.

Regardless of the nature of the trade dispute, an MP’s first duty should be to represent the interests of their constituents. Mrs Mullane, however, decided to side with the very people who threaten us, her constituents, with piles of rubbish on our streets and in our front gardens.

To be clear, I am not taking a position on whether bin collectors are adequately paid. Unite cites a starting wage of £12.88 an hour for a loader. Based on eight hours a day over 253 working days in 2026, that amounts to £26,069.12 a year, with estimated take-home pay of more than £22,000. Readers can judge for themselves whether that is appropriate pay.

The central issue is who would bear the cost of a higher pay settlement. Any increase passed on to Havering Council through its waste collection contract would ultimately fall on residents, whether through higher council tax, reduced spending on other services, or both.

Those trade-offs matter. More money spent on waste collection could mean less available to fix potholes, provide social care, clean our streets or maintain our parks. Residents deserve to know how any settlement would be funded and what it would mean for the services they rely on.

Paying bin collectors more simply means either paying more in council tax or having fewer potholes fixed and less money for social care, street cleaning, our parks and other public services funded by the council, or a combination of both.

Unfortunately, regrettably and unsurprisingly, this does not seem to be of importance to our MP, Margaret Mullane. Why unsurprisingly? Because Mrs Mullane is a self-described “active trade unionist” who, according to Parliament’s Register of Members’ Financial Interests, received £21,201.52 in 2024 from various trade unions, of which £7,000 came from Unite, the union behind the Havering bin collectors’ strike.

Given the trade union support linked to Mrs Mullane in the parliamentary register, I believe constituents are entitled to question whether her political affiliations affect her approach to disputes such as this one.

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