Angela Rayner puts boot into Labour’s critics
Angela Rayner wasn’t wearing her trademark chunky boots when she addressed the TUC conference in Liverpool
But she put the boot into Labour’s trade union critics in a powerful speech, ending with a call for the unions to “come together, stand together and campaign side by side”.
No stilettos, either, just a pair of smart business shoes and a dress in a sober dark green colour. Preparing for government?
And her message was, if you want a Labour government, stop the carping and moaning, as she declared: “This country can’t survive another five years of Tory rule.”
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Her targets? Principally Unite’s Sharon Graham, who this week denounced Sir Keir Starmer’s policies as a “1990s tribute act”, and Mark Serworka of the PCS, who accused the Labour leader of breaking promises – suggesting he was untrustworthy.
The call for unity was all the more powerful coming from the Labour deputy, who told the unions she may have been born in Stockport, but she was “raised in the trade union movement”.
It wasn’t a message that would have the same resonance had it been delivered to the unions by Sir Keir, seen by critics as a slick north London lawyer whose claims of his own working-class roots are not always convincing.
When she was introduced before she delivered her speech, authentic Angy was hailed by TUC president Maria Exall as “one of us” and “Labour’s finest” – not the sort of introduction Sir Keir would have been greeted with.
The evening before her conference speech, the self-deprecating deputy leader had confessed that she was “no angel”, but vowed to “get things done”.
And she echoed that latter statement in her speech, promising to enact Labour’s New Deal for Working People – that is, in an Employment Rights Bill ” in the first 100 days of a Labour government.
“That’s a cast-iron commitment,” she said.
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That was followed by a blizzard of pledges: banning zero-hours contracts, ending fire-and-rehire, family-friendly working, strengthening sick pay, ending the gender pay gap, tackling sexual harassment at work and more.
It was exactly what the unions wanted to hear and prompted Sir Keir, whose speech at the TUC’s gala dinner the previous evening was described to Sky News as “bland” by one union general secretary, to tweet that her speech was “brilliant”.
The Tory chairman, Greg Hands, however, claimed: “The mask has slipped. Despite Keir Starmer’s short-term promise to be pro-business, his deputy leader is committing to Labour’s paymasters that they will have more control over Britain’s economy.”
That’s not entirely fair. She said in her speech that Labour will “work hand in hand with trade unions as we will work with business”.
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Sharon Graham remains unrepentant about her criticism, however. She told Sky News after Rayner’s speech that Labour needs to be bolder.
“There can be no back-tracking on the agreed workers’ rights,” she said.
That’s harsh and a little unfair. There was no back-tracking in Ms Rayner’s speech. A cast-iron commitment couldn’t be clearer.
She is, after all, as the TUC president kindly pointed out, “one of us”.
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Ex-Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry has defected to Reform, in the latest blow to the Conservatives.
The former MP for Rossendale and Darwen, who served as Northern Powerhouse minister under Boris Johnson and lost his seat last year, said he had defected to Nigel Farage’s party because the Tories had “lost their way”.
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Reform UK confirmed the defection to Sky News, which was first broken by The Sun.
Speaking to the paper, Sir Jake said Mr Farage’s party was the “last chance to pull Britain back from terminal decline”.
“Our streets are completely lawless,” he said.
“Migration is out of control. Taxes are going through the roof.
“And day after day, I hear from people in my community and beyond who say the same thing: ‘This isn’t the Britain I grew up in’.”
Sir Jake accused his former party of “abandoning the British people” but said he was not “giving up”.
“I’m staying. And I’m fighting.
“Fighting for the Britain I want my kids, and one day, my grandkids, to grow up in.”
Mr Farage welcomed what he said was “a very brave decision” by Sir Jake.
“His admission that the Conservative government he was part of broke the country is unprecedented and principled,” he added.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Reform support increasing the benefits bill by removing the two-child cap, and nationalising British industry. By contrast the Conservatives, under new leadership, will keep making the case for sound money, lower taxes and bringing the welfare bill under control.
“We wish Jake well in his new high spend, high tax party.”
Sir Jake’s defection to Reform comes just days after former Conservative cabinet minister David Jones joined Reform UK, which continues to lead in the polls.
Former Welsh secretary David Jones (R) alongside Tory MP Mark Francois. Pic: PA
Mr Jones, who was MP for Clwyd West from 2005 until standing down in 2024, said he had quit the Tories after “more than 50 years of continuous membership”.
Sir Jake was the MP Rossendale and Darwen in Lancashire between 2010 and 2024, when he was defeated by Labour’s Andy MacNae.
He held several ministerial posts including in the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Energy and Climate Change and the Cabinet Office.
Nigel Farage after winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.
Pic: Reuters
He was also chairman of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022, under Liz Truss.
Announcing his defection – which comes a year after the Tories suffered their worst ever election defeat – Sir Jake said “Britain was broken” and “the Conservative governments I was part of share the blame”.
“We now have a tax system that punishes hard work and ambition,” he said.
“Just this week, we saw record numbers of our brightest and best people leaving Britain because they can’t see a future here. At the same time, our benefits system is pulling in the world’s poor with no plan for integration and no control over who comes in.
“If you were deliberately trying to wreck the country, you’d be hard-pressed to do a better job than the last two decades of Labour and Tory rule.
“Millions of people, just like me, want a country they can be proud of again. The only way we get that is with Reform in government. That’s why I’ve resigned from the Conservative Party. I’m now backing Reform UK and working to make them the next party of government.”
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He added: “And with Nigel Farage leading Reform, we’ve got someone the country can actually trust. He doesn’t change his views to fit the mood of the day. And people respect that. So do I. That’s why I believe he should be our next prime minister.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Not content with taking advice from Liz Truss, Nigel Farage has now tempted her Tory Party chairman into his ranks.
“It’s clear Farage wants Liz Truss’s reckless economics, which crashed our economy and sent mortgages spiralling, to be Reform’s blueprint for Britain. It’s a recipe for disaster and working people would be left paying the price.”
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