Trade Union Boss Accuses Keir Starmer Of Leading UK Towards ‘Austerity Mark 2’

A leading trade union boss has accused Keir Starmer of leading the UK towards “austerity mark 2” as she launched a bitter attack on the prime minister.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite – which has donated more than £500,000 to Labour MPs this year – urged the prime minister to ditch the “cruel” policy of scrapping winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners.

She made her comments on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News as Labour’s annual conference kicks off in Liverpool.

Asked what she wanted to hear in Starmer’s keynote speech on Tuesday, Graham said: “I think the priority that I’d like to hear from him is that
he’s going to reverse the decision on the winter fuel allowance. It’s a cruel policy. He needs to reverse it. And I’d like him to say that he’s made a misstep and to reverse that
policy.

“I’d also like him to say that we’re not going to take this country down austerity mark 2. People voted for change. They need to see change. And he needs to reverse the winter fuel allowance [decision] and let people have that £300 they can put their heating on this winter.”

She later added: “I’ve got a million workers in my union and pensioners.

“But the reality is the mood music here is that they are taking away from the poorest in our society now. And actually the conversation they’re having is walking us into austerity mark 2.

“Nobody wants to see that. Workers don’t want to see it, communities don’t want to see it. And I can tell you, the pensioners don’t want to see it either.”

Graham said the government should introduce a 1% wealth tax on the richest people in the country, which she claimed would raise £25 billion.

“That would take away the so-called black hole, job done, and
we’d have £3 billion left over.”

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Keir Starmer Defeats Left-Wing Critics As Labour Rejects ‘Unfunded’ Spending Proposals

Keir Starmer has defeated his left-wing critics to win backing for his “serious and credible” general election plans.

In a major victory for the Labour leader, the party’s National Policy Forum rejected “unfunded” proposals by the Unite trade union and pro-Jeremy Corbyn campaign group Momentum.

A party spokesperson said: “Labour’s democratic policy-making body has endorsed Keir Starmer’s programme, his five missions for government, and the fiscal rules that he and Rachel Reeves have set out.

“This is a serious, credible and ambitious policy programme that lays the groundwork for an election-winning manifesto and a mission-driven Labour government that will build a better Britain.

“There are no unfunded spending commitments in the document.

“This weekend is another proof point that shows that Keir Starmer has changed the Labour Party and is ready to change the country in government built on the rock of economic responsibility and strong fiscal rules.”

The GMB union said the plans “would make a real difference for workers and industries they work in”.

But Unite refused to give the policy document their backing, claiming it “clearly crossed the union’s red lines including around workers’ rights”.

“As the general election draws nearer, Keir Starmer has to prove Labour will deliver for workers and we need clear policies on this,” the union said.

Momentum said it was “a missed opportunity for Labour to lay out real solutions to the Tories’ broken Britain”.

They said: “Unions and members proposed urgent, popular policies like a £15 minimum wage, workers’ rights and free school meals. But Starmer’s fiscal conservatism put paid to hope.

“Worse, the leadership’s steadfast refusal to commit to scrap heinous Tory policies like the two-child cap and anti-protest laws means that an undemocratic and unequal status quo risks being left in place under a Labour government. Britain deserves better.”

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Why The Unite Election Has Lessons In Unity For Keir Starmer – And The Left

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“Two down, one to go.” That’s how a Labour MP reacted this week to the news that moderate Gary Smith was just elected to lead the GMB union. It was a reference to the fact that this year’s general secretary elections for the UK’s ‘big three’ trade unions – Unison, Unite and GMB – have seen two victories for candidates seen as friendly to Keir Starmer.

While Smith won the GMB contest on Thursday, earlier this year Christina McAnea saw off three more left-wing rivals in the battle to lead Unison. But although Unison is now the largest union in the country, it is the fight to succeed Len McCluskey that is seen as the race with the biggest prize. A clean sweep of ‘moderates’ would deliver for Starmer more union boss support than any Labour leader since the 1950s.

Of course, the contests are often more than a straight battle between ‘left’ and ‘right’. As a former Communist, McAnea is hardly a Blairite. She was however seen as the most pragmatic of the contenders for the Unison top job. Crucially, she also became the first female leader of a ‘big’ union, which was fitting given just how many women NHS, council and social care staff make up Unison’s membership.

Women make up more than half of the GMB’s membership and after an independent report found evidence of “institutional sexism” among its ranks, some had expected Rehana Azam to clinch the general secretary job. On his victory, Smith acknowledged the sexism findings and vowed to implement reforms. Still, some in the union claim the “women’s vote” was split after another candidate, Giovanna Holt, decided to stand.

In fact, “splitting the vote” is often a feature, whether deliberate or unintentional, of general secretary elections. Why? Because unlike virtually every other internal election (say Tory and Labour leader elections), they are run under first past the post rules. When McAnea won the Unison post, her vote was less than the combined total of the three leftwingers who stood against her.

And it’s that first past the post factor which is now very much in play in “the big one”, Unite. Centrist Gerard Coyne is up against three leftwing rivals (Steve Turner, Howard Beckett and Sharon Graham) and as a result could end up winning with less than half of the vote. As Turner conceded to me recently: “If we had the same turnout as last time, there ain’t enough votes to go round on a straight three-way [Left] split to defeat” Coyne.

Turnouts tend to be low in union elections (the GMB’s this week was just 10.6%, Unite’s last time was about 12%). That’s in part because the Conservative government has refused to allow online balloting (something that’s allowed in political party elections), partly because of a lack of public profile and partly apathy among union members.

But given the low turnouts, three Left candidates are often fishing in a small pool for the same votes. After Turner narrowly won last year the crucial nomination of the ‘United Left’ grouping in the union, Beckett opted to still stand. National organiser Graham was always going to stand in her own right too, which means the Left will indeed be split.

I understand that all four candidates now have enough branch nominations to formally stand as candidates. With the final deadline for nominations due on Monday, Coyne and Turner are holding back details for now, possibly to gain even more backing over this weekend. Graham was the first to reach the threshold, and Beckett “smashed” through it this week. There are no signs that any will step aside to unite around a single Left candidate but bragging rights over who has most nominations will be valuable.

Why does any of this matter beyond internal union affairs? Well, Unite has been Labour’s biggest donor in recent years and still retains a significant presence on the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC). Some even think the stakes are so high that this Unite election may have more long-term impact on the party than the May local elections, or even the forthcoming Batley and Spen by-election.

Beckett, who has been suspended from Labour over a tweet about Priti Patel, is almost certain to be reinstated after a reprimand, insiders believe. His supporters think he has the momentum in the race. And if Beckett succeeds McCluskey “he’ll make Len look like a pussycat”, one union source told me. He has already threatened to pull funding for Labour, tweeting his warning just minutes after the party’s Unite staff branch voted to nominate Coyne. Turner, a collegiate trade unionist by nature, has said he would happily work with Starmer.

Beckett’s Twitter controversy may well have helped him raise his profile in the Unite election. Similarly, Newsnight’s allegations of his role in moves to unseat Labour MPs may even boost his credentials among some left-minded union members. However, Coyne’s camp believe he’s the only candidate committed to introducing transparency in how Unite spends their money, be that on the £98m hotel complex in Birmingham or on paying more than £2m in libel costs to ex-MP Anna Turley.

Coyne may also be boosted by the little-noticed fact that in the Labour leadership election, Starmer won a majority of Unite members’ votes. As Steve Turner, who backed Rebecca Long-Bailey, put it to me recently: “We didn’t win the argument inside our own union…We won it amongst the politicos and that group that loves to talk to themselves…But in the real world out there, where 99.9% of our members reside, they’re not.”

And that’s really perhaps why the Unite contest matters. Many of its members, who like both Brexit and state spending, actually voted for Boris Johnson in 2019. If the new general secretary can somehow help Starmer reconnect with those voters, while somehow helping Labour to look more united (the clue is in the union’s name), many of his MPs would be grateful. For the party’s Left, unifying around a single candidate may be just as valuable a lesson too.

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