A motion to cut a half a million pound taxpayer bill paid to union workers has been quashed after opposition councillors branded it “intrinsically unfair”.

The results of a freedom of information request show Lambeth Council forked out more than £500,000 for union members in 2011.

They spent £317,517 a year on salaries, pensions, and costs for almost 10 full-time union workers from major unions Unison, GMB and Unite.

An additional £141,411 was spent on 2.6 full-time equivalents from teaching unions including the NUT and NASUWT. But Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors have failed to gain support for a motion which recommended the bill be cut.

At a full council meeting on Wednesday (January 25), Conservative Party Group Leader John Whelan said it was “intrinsically unfair” for Lambeth residents to foot the bill for union workers, and said voluntary members of trade unions should fund their own political activity, instead of the taxpayer.

He said: “We recognise that unions have a role to play in representing the views of their members.

“But the taxpayer should not be shouldering this bloated burden of subsidies for political activists to disrupt services and campaign against educational reforms.”

Labour councillors subsequently voted to amend his motion and several key clauses were struck out.

In her amendment, deputy council leader Jackie Meldrum said subsidising the work of trade union officials was a “cost effective way to deal with industrial relations in the workplace”.

She added the council “did not pay a penny” for union activities, such as leafleting and protest marches.