‘Fundamentally unfair’: Burnham must overhaul migration reforms, says TUC general secretary

Paul Nowak: ‘Both my granddads came to this country after the second world war – one from Hong Kong, one from Poland.’ Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Andy Burnham must overhaul Shabana Mahmood’s migration reforms or risk overstretching social care and fuelling far-right sentiment, the TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, has warned.

Speaking ahead of the TUC’s annual congress in Brighton next week, Nowak welcomed the “sense of optimism” around Burnham’s fledgling government, but he urged the PM to act in a series of areas, including migration and the cost of living.