Keir Starmer to tell TUC Congress partnership between business and unions key to rebuilding economy

Keir Starmer will tell delegates at the TUC Congress in Brighton that the partnership between business and unions is key to rewiring the economy for working people.

In a keynote speech, the first address at the Congress by a Prime Minister in 15 years, Starmer will say that “country first, party second” will be the guiding principle of everything the new Labour government will do.

The Prime Minister will say that the view that unions and businesses can only stand at odds is an outdated trope and that pro-worker pro-business partnerships will be a driver of national renewal.

Addressing delegates, Starmer will champion the politics of partnership and recommit his government to governing as a changed Labour Party.

READ MORE: Unions demand ‘urgent action’ from government to deliver New Deal for Working People

He will say: “I call now, as before the election, for the politics of partnership. With us in government, with business, and most importantly of all with working people, the mood is for partnership.

“And not just on pay – on everything. To turn around our NHS, give our children the start in life they deserve, make our public services fit for the future and unlock the potential of clean energy. A new era of investment and reform. The common cause of national renewal.

“We have the chance to deliver for working people: young people, vulnerable people, the poorest in society, because we have changed the Labour Party. So when I say ‘country first, party second’ – that isn’t a slogan. It’s the guiding principle of everything this government will do. We ran as a changed Labour Party and we will govern as a changed Labour Party.

“I make no apologies to those, still stuck in the 1980s, who believe that unions and small business can only stand at odds, leaving working people stuck in the middle.”

The Prime Minister will tell delegates that work has begun on delivering on the New Deal for Working People, which the party describes as the “biggest levelling up of workers’ rights in a generation”.

Starmer will say: “This government is committed to driving up, living standards, improving productivity and working in partnership with workers. As part of that bill, we will repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act, we will get rid of minimum service level legislation, end the cheap and vindictive attacks on this movement and turn the page on politics as noisy performance – once and for all.”

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However, the Prime Minister will warn that the Conservatives “salted the earth of Britain’s future to serve themselves” and that the road to fixing the foundations of the country won’t be easy.

He will say: “It is time to turn the page, business and union, the private and public sector, united by a common cause to rebuild our public services and grow our economy in a new way. Higher growth, higher wages, higher productivity. The shared purpose of partnership as the path through the mess the Tories made and onwards to national renewal.

“We will keep to the course of change, reject the snake oil of easy answers, fix the foundations of our economy and build a new Britain. More secure, more prosperous, more dynamic and fairer. A country renewed and returned, calmly but with confidence to the service of working people.”

His address will come hours before Parliament will vote on the controversial proposals to cut the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners. The move was criticised by some union leaders, including Unite’s Sharon Graham, who called for Labour to instead implement a wealth tax on the top one percent of earners.

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