Trade union members turning to Farage because of failure to tackle cost of living, Starmer warned
Keir Starmer has been warned union members are turning to Nigel Farage because he is too obsessed with polls and not focusing properly on the cost of living.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), spoke to The Independent before publishing his new year message in which a shocking survey by Survation has revealed the depth of the crisis facing many households.
The prime minister and his cabinet should stop playing games and focus on the cost of living crisis in 2026, the union boss said.
One in five people (21 per cent) skip meals or make sacrifices for their children every or most days because they cannot eat, the survey commissioned by the TUC and campaign group 38 Degrees found.
More than a third (36 percent) reduce heating every or most days.
Four in five (79 percent) say their finances are either stagnant or deteriorating
Mr Nowak warned: “The government needs to focus relentlessly on the cost of living and then the polls will take care of themselves.”
Suggesting that there is too much attention to weekly polls in Downing Street, he added: “Politicians are focused on the minutiae of polls while ordinary people are focused on the minutiae of their bank accounts.”
The TUC leader applauded the workers’ rights package agreed just before Christmas and added that it was unions who were forcing the “reluctant” Labor government to lift the two-child benefit cap.
But “there’s more to be done,” he insisted.
He also warned that failure to “deliver the ‘change’ on the front of the Labor manifesto” meant people were turning to Reform, which he believed was a mistaken view that Mr Farage would solve their problems.
The Reform UK leader flirted with left-wing voters with promises to nationalize steel production and water companies, as well as scrap the two-child benefit cap, before Labor relented on the issue.
Mr Nowak said: “Many [union] members vote for Reform. But we still shouldn’t call them racists.”
Instead, he wants the Labor government to reveal what a Farage-led government would actually do when dealing with the day-to-day problems people face.
He said: “A Farage-led government would be a disaster for workers. These new rights we’ve just secured will be under attack, a return to austerity, the privatization of our NHS, you know, the big economic reset speech he gave in London and talking about the need to deregulate the financial sector because that worked so well last time.”
“Frankly, we’re destroying our relationship with our closest trading partner in terms of the European Union. So, I mean, we have no doubt that reform is going to be a dead end.”
But instead, like many in the union movement, he is concerned about the amount of infighting within the cabinet and the maneuvers his rivals are making to replace Sir Keir.
He said: “When a government is this far behind in the polls and the Prime Minister’s personal approval ratings are low, there will always be some form of speculation.
“I think it’s everyone’s job, the prime minister, the cabinet, the Labor government, the entire parliamentary Labor Party; you can’t afford to take your eyes off the day-to-day business of meeting living standards and get caught up in a sort of inland sea view of who’s up and who’s down in the cabinet.”
He added: “I think there are people who see politics as a game. I don’t think politics is a game for our members.
“I mean, that’s the difference for some people, are they either concerned about the heating or, God forbid, missing a meal because, you know, they’d rather have the kids have tea than you know.”
While unions remain Labour’s biggest donors, there are also a number of major unions that have questioned their continued relationship with Labor under Sir Keir’s leadership.
Unison, the largest union, has just elected Corbynista Andrea Egan, who wants to reduce support for Labour, while Unite, the second largest union, is discussing leaving the party.
Mr Nowak said: “Our job is not to be passive cheerleaders who stand on the sidelines and applaud everything the government does. I think our job is to work with the government to address the issues that really matter to our members, their families and their communities, to call out the government and they’ve got it wrong.”
