The leader of the UK’s unions has issued a stark warning to Keir Starmer that his party must “deliver” in 2025.
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said that “continuing with the same broken status quo is not an option” and that ordinary people had to start to feel better off in their wallets.
In an interview with The Independent, he said the one word he would use to sum up the troubled first six months of Sir Keir’s time in Downing Street would be “potential”.
Since entering No 10, the Labour leader has come under fire for a series of unpopular policies including the tractor tax and stripping winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners. He recently unveiled a new “Plan for Change” as the party seeks to learn the lessons of the US election that delivered Donald Trump’s victory – to focus on how well off people feel they are rather than broader economic measures like GDP.
In his new year’s message, the leader of the UK trade union movement says working people desperately need tangible change.
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“Repairing and rebuilding Britain after 14 years of Tory chaos and decline is a massive challenge for the government,” he said. “But 2025 has to be a year of delivery – continuing with the same broken status quo is not an option.
“As recent elections in the US and across the globe have shown, securing economic growth is not enough on its own. Families want to feel better off and to see material improvements in their day-to-day lives.”
Making work pay, creating good jobs and improving public services would give “people hope – at a time when the far-right is using the politics of grievance to divide our communities”, he added.
He backed deputy prime minister Angela Rayner’s “Make Work Pay” plans to upgrade workers’ rights, which the government’s own analysis says could cost businesses up to £5bn a year to implement.
Under the plans, workers would have new rights from the first day of employment including sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal, while “exploitative” zero-hour contracts would be banned.
Mr Nowak said: “Working households up and down this country are hurting and we cannot afford to ignore it. The government has a historic opportunity – and an electoral mandate – to make work pay.
“Delivering the Employment Rights Bill in full will boost living standards for millions and create a happier, healthier and more productive workforce. We must not get distracted or diverted from this task.”
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He also hit out at critics, saying “naysayers opposing this legislation are invariably the same voices who opposed the introduction of the minimum wage … they were wrong then and they are wrong now.”
He also warned ministers they could not “fix our public services unless we deal with the recruitment and retention crisis that has pushed them to breaking point”.
That means dealing with issues like pay, he said, which was “brutally squeezed by the Tories for over a decade”.
While Sir Keir has faced widespread criticism for his first six months in power, Mr Nowak sees some positives.
“I thought they hit the ground running,” he said. “Things like the National Wealth Fund was really important, resolving the industrial disputes in rail and health was really important, delivering on the recommendations of the Pay Review bodies was really important… there were really positive things done.
“They had a really difficult summer, obviously, with the riots that followed what happened in Southport. But I actually think the prime minister handled that as well as anybody could have handled that sort of situation.
“Obviously, no government gets everything right and they are dealing with a very toxic legacy. Of course, the polls have swung against them but I still think this is why 2025 becomes so important. Because this is the year to prove to people that all those plans actually are going to make a real difference to them and their families.”
