‘We need to get it right’: union gusto for Burnham will face make-or-break tests

Louise Haigh, the UK first secretary, spoke to union members in place of Andy Burnham, who was absent due to the death of his father. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Louise Haigh, the UK first secretary, got a standing ovation from trade union members in Brighton this week, as she acknowledged what she called “the necessity to be bolder in this second chance that we’ve been allowed”.

Haigh was the stand-in at the annual TUC congress for Andy Burnham, absent because of his father’s death.