KEIR Starmer will warn trade unionists against pushing for more pay bumps as he says his Government “will not risk its mandate for economic stability, under any circumstances”.
In a warning shot to the unions, the Prime Minister will use a keynote speech at the Trades Union Congress in Brighton on Tuesday to say that “pay will inevitably be shaped” by the “tough decisions on the horizon”.
His speech will come on the day Labour whips attempt to stifle an expected rebellion on axing the Winter Fuel Payment.
While the Government’s plans are expected to pass, many Labour MPs are unhappy about the changes, which will strip around 10 million pensioners of a payment worth up to £300 to help with their energy costs.
Starmer (above) will seek to frame his pay warning in similar terms to how Labour have attempted to justify radically scaling down the Winter Fuel Payment, a measure expected to save £1.4 billion per year.
He will say: “I do have to make clear, from a place of respect, that this Government will not risk its mandate for economic stability, under any circumstances. And with tough decisions on the horizon, pay will inevitably be shaped by that.
“I owe you that candour because – as was so painfully exposed by the last government - when you lose control of the economy it’s working people who pay the price.”
Labour have previously said that not getting rid of the Winter Fuel Payment would have resulted in a “run on the pound”, a claim for which the party was criticised as “desperate”.
But Starmer’s comments also appear to be a response to criticism from the Tories that Labour are awarding “inflation-busting pay rises to their union paymasters” while raiding pensioners’ benefits.
He will say: “The crisis we have inherited means we must go deep into the marrow of our institutions, rewrite the rules of our economy and fix the foundations so we can build a new home.
“A country where growth not only comes from the enterprise of working people, but where growth serves the interests of working people.
“Living standards rising, not just because we are redistributing from prosperous parts of the country but because we are growing the economy in every community.”
Elsewhere, he will commit to Labour’s watered-down programme to improve workers’ rights and the repeal of the Tories’ tough anti-trade union laws.
But his remarks have already drawn fierce criticism, with the Alba Party describing the Prime Minister as “the son of Thatcher”.
Chris McEleny, the party’s general secretary, said: “His comments are no different than you would expect from a Conservative chancellor never mind a Labour prime minister.
“Not a day goes by that the change Labour promised evaporates into a cloud of continuity Westminster.”
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said: "Sir Keir Starmer ran an election campaign that promised to do almost nothing, and has failed to even hit that pathetically low bar.
"The workers that Starmer says are not worth a proper pay rise are the same frontline workers who got us through lockdown and have supported us every day since. They go above and beyond for us every day and provide the services we all rely on. "If it is a choice between those workers or Keir Starmer then I know which side I am on.
"The Tories made working people pay the price for their financial recklessness and ineptitude and Labour is doing the same. The cost of living crisis wasn't caused by trade unions or the workers they represent, it was caused by Downing Street and their super wealthy friends."
