One of Britain's largest trade unions is to take the Labour Party to court over its refusal to allow people in Northern Ireland to become members.
GMB general secretary Mr John Edmonds said today the union had decided to fund a case being prepared against Labour by one of the union's Northern Ireland officials on the grounds that the ban was racist.
Mr Edmonds told PA News: "We have decided to fund the efforts of one of our deputy senior shop stewards in Northern Ireland, Andy McGivern, to force Labour to extend membership to people in the province.
"A lot of Labour members don't realise that people on the left in Northern Ireland cannot join the party or that if you are a member who goes to Northern Ireland to live and work you have to give up your membership.
"It's quite outrageous that you can join the Labour Party in Baghdad but not in Belfast.
"What we hope to achieve by funding this case is to highlight the ridiculousness of the situation and embarrass the party into revoking the ban."
Trade unionists and left wing activists have for many years tried to persuade Labour to drop its ban. The party has traditionally cited its links with the SDLP as its main reason for refusing to allow people from the North join.
However left wing activists in Northern Ireland regard the SDLP as primarily a nationalist party, despite its membership of the Party of European Socialists.
The Conservatives have Northern Ireland members and last year fielded candidates in the general election, while the Liberal Democrats are linked to the Alliance Party.
Labour came under pressure this week to lift the ban on the fringes of its party conference in Blackpool as GMB officials lobbied fellow trade unionists, MPs and rank-and-file party members.
The GMB tried twice to have the issue raised on the main conference floor - during the party's democracy debate on Sunday and Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid's report to delegates on Thursday - but failed.
Mr Edmonds said; "Clearly the party wasn't all that keen to have the situation highlighted to a wider audience.
"We have been pursuing this issue over the last 10 to 11 years and have been told over all that time the Labour leadership is considering the issue, the last two general secretaries have been considering the issue.
Mr McGivern hailed the union leadership's backing for his case as a "significant boost" and said: "I will next week be sitting down with the regional secretary, our solicitors and barristers and will hopefully be getting this into the courts by the end of this month.
"The Labour leadership has been dragging its feet on this issue for a long time. Maybe now that they know we have union funding for this case, they will sit up and take notice."
PA