Working with William Allan, he proposed merging the many small craft unions to form a large body.
This was achieved in 1851, with the establishment of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE), and Newton then published and edited The Operative, a newspaper linked with the new union.
[1] Newton also served on the ASE's executive, and introduced a motion for members to stop working overtime and piece-work.
He was elected to serve on the Stepney vestry, later becoming its chairman, and the Mile End Old Town representative on the Metropolitan Board of Works.
He stood again for Parliament in Tower Hamlets at the 1868 United Kingdom general election, this time as a radical aligned with the Liberal Party, and finally at the 1876 Ipswich by-election, but came bottom of the poll on each occasion.