The Labour party is “under the thumb” of its trade union paymasters and its strike settlements are payback for the union millions that funded its election campaign. So say some Tory leadership contenders and their press loud hailers, a constant reminder that despite the Tories’ extreme unpopularity causing their worst ever election result, and despite Labour’s colossal majority, the media keep blasting out the messages that voters so resoundingly rejected. Labour governments swimming against this perpetual tide of hostility, which is often mindlessly mimicked by broadcasters, need to keep their nerve: this boombox is not the voice of England, let alone Britain.
Labour’s new deal for working people is a popular policy; it ends forced zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire, and creates a fair pay agreement for care workers. Despite the effect on the NHS and other services, many strikers, including nurses, doctors, teachers, firefighters, ambulance staff and postal workers retained public support; there was less for travel disrupters, not helped by Aslef’s misguided new strike. Misrepresentation of “inflation-busting” pay settlements ignores how public sector employees still lag 2% on average below their 2010 pay, while private sector pay has risen by 5% on average, according to the IFS.
