Angela Rayner to accuse Tories of ‘levelling down’ nation as she units out Labour’s plan

Sep 12, 2023 at 1:42 AM
Angela Rayner to accuse Tories of ‘levelling down’ nation as she units out Labour’s plan

Pay and housing can be on the coronary heart of Labour’s “real-life” plans to degree up the nation, Angela Rayner is to announce.

The deputy Labour chief, who was appointed the brand new shadow levelling up, housing and communities secretary in a reshuffle last week, will deal with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Liverpool on Tuesday.

In a nod to her new position, and long-standing affiliation with commerce unions, she’s going to draw on her personal previous in an effort to present “the real-world link between levelling up and unionised jobs”.

She will say: “As a young single mum, it was a Labour government that levelled the playing field for me. When I most needed it, a council house gave me my son a secure home instead of surfing sofas. That in turn meant I could go out and find the job that I built a life upon.

“The minimal wage meant I earned extra. A neighborhood authority job gave me higher expertise at work, and a Sure Start centre higher expertise as a mum or dad. And becoming a member of a union modified my complete life – and meant I may change different folks’s lives too.”

Ms Rayner will say levelling up may nonetheless appear to be this however, underneath the Tories, it has grow to be a “sham and a scam”.

She will stress {that a} Labour authorities will prioritise jobs, homes and communities to develop the financial system – not like the Tories who she’s going to accuse of “levelling down” the nation.

She will cite the celebration’s New Deal for Working People – a flagship coverage which guarantees to bolster staff’ rights with protections in opposition to unfair dismissal, a ban on zero hour contracts, extra versatile working and ending fireplace and rehire (when an employer fires an worker and gives them a brand new contract on new, usually less-favourable phrases).

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Will Labour ship for staff?

Ms Rayner will even level to a Labour pledge to build more houses and stress “that means more council houses”.

She will say: “Everything I relied upon to improve my life and my community has instead been levelled down by the Tories. With housebuilding and wages plummeting across the whole country, this government’s version of levelling up is a sham – and a scam.”

It comes as a possible olive department to union chiefs who’ve challenged the Labour management to be bolder with its economic policies if it desires to steer Britain out of decline.

The celebration’s strikes to sideline left-wingers and a perceived lack of help in industrial disputes has additionally brought on anger among the many motion.

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‘Nothing works anymore’: Tories accused of having ‘broken Britain’

During fringe occasions on the TUC Conference on Monday, unions pressed Labour to not dilute its dedication to strengthen staff’ rights and union rights.

Mick Lynch, basic secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, stated: “Labour should see the extension of workers rights as the vote winner it surely is.

“Rather than undertake an apologetic perspective, which sees these pledges as concessions to ‘the unions’, they need to be enthusiastically selling the New Deal for Working People as core to delivering the form of change this nation so badly wants.”

Labour will be bolstered by polling published by TUC, which it said showed huge support for Labour’s policies on workers rights, even among Conservative voters.

Ms Rayner was greeted with a warm reception at a fringe event hosted by unions on Monday night, where she vowed: “If I get the privilege to be the deputy prime minister of this nation, I cannot allow you to down.”

She said the New Deal for Working People would be enacted within 100 days of a Labour government, quipping: “Those who know me know I’m no angel however I get issues completed.”