Fights on all fronts: RCN faces legal action and Labour preps sewage attack

The Health Secretary Steve Barclay yesterday confirmed that the government would be taking action against the Royal College of Nursing, in an attempt to halt their planned industrial action on May 2nd. They claim it falls outside of the RCN’s six month ballot mandate for strikes. RCN general secretary Pat Cullen, who had previously described government talk of legal action as a “blatant threat” responded to the news in an email to her members, saying: “Tonight, the threat sadly became a reality. We told the government that this is wrong and indefensible. The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them – including in court.” She continued by saying it was “so wrong” for the government to “use taxpayers’ money to drag our profession through the courts”. The RCN said today the High Court will hear the case on Thursday.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner, herself a former UNISON rep and care worker, will speak this afternoon at the launch of a report from the Resolution Foundation. The report is titled Enforce for good: Effectively enforcing labour market rights in the 2020s, and the Shadow Secretary for the Future of Work is to tell the audience: “Workplace rights and protections aren’t worth the paper they are written on if they aren’t properly enforced. For too many vulnerable workers, there’s no justice in sight when things go wrong at work, and the government simply doesn’t have their back.”

Rayner’s boss will be talking about tackling violence against women and girls this morning, something he has pledged to halve as part of his crime “mission”. Keir Starmer will appear on This Morning shortly, following up on a roundtable event on the issue yesterday. The Times reported that “boys would be taught how to respect women and girls as part of the national curriculum under Labour’s plans to prevent laddish banter leading to misogyny and violence”, and the Labour leader has stressed the importance of “bringing about cultural change” in the battle against societal misogyny.

In Westminster, frontbenchers have another battle on their mind today – taking the fight to the government on sewage dumping. Labour has an opposition day debate it hopes will see Tory MPs vote down tougher action through fines and targets – giving them strong ammunition to fire at said MPs as polling day nears in the local elections. Strategists clearly hope to capitalise on the issue’s salience with voters, particularly in rural and coastal constituencies – many represented by Conservative MPs. My colleague Katie has the details here. Also on LabourList this morning, we have a piece from Northumbria police and crime commissioner Kim McGuinness, who argues that Tory devolution “is not doing the job because it’s not as ambitious as Labour’s plans”.

On a lighter note, Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry has been taking part in a new online trend, releasing a video of herself on the local elections campaign trail in Redcar and Cleveland – in the distinctive style of American film director Wes Anderson.