Next Labour leader must stand up for progressive values

The next Labour leader will crash and burn unless they have the confidence to repair public services and stand up for progressive values, UNISON general secretary Andrea Egan said today (Wednesday).

Speaking at the union’s annual conference in Brighton, Andrea said fixing the country required massive investment in schools, hospitals, councils and transport.

Addressing 1,300 delegates, she called on the home secretary to reverse plans to make migrant workers wait longer to be able to settle in the UK.

She said the “shameful” proposals must be dropped immediately and the entire union was behind migrant care staff in their fight.

Speaking about what she wants to see from any new prime minister, UNISON general secretary Andrea Egan said:

“Whoever the next Labour leader is will crash and burn unless they have the confidence to break completely with the establishment consensus. 

“The next prime minister must repair our broken public services through massive public investment and bringing everything back in house.

“Major sectors have to be brought back fully under national public ownership. Not just publicly controlled or regulated a bit more actively. 

“They must stand up for progressive values, end the attacks on migrants, protect hard-won freedoms and invest in our communities.

“That means investing in schools, hospitals, councils and transport. Not spending more money on American weapons and wars abroad.”

Turning to the home secretary’s plans to force migrant workers to wait 15 years before they can settle in the UK, Andrea said:

“I’m not sure if politicians like the home secretary thought we’d just look away when they decided to come for migrants.

“When they decided to scapegoat them, strip away their rights and deepen exploitation. Because if they did, they couldn’t have been more wrong.

“An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. It doesn’t matter where we come from or what we look like. Workers stick together and that’s why the entire union is four-square behind our migrant members in this fight.  

“Shabana Mahmood’s shameful proposals must be dropped immediately. They’re a direct attack on UNISON members and a betrayal of our most basic values.” 

Notes to editors:

– Footage of the speech will be available on the union’s YouTube page here.

– UNISON’s national conference began in Brighton on Tuesday and continues until Friday (19 June). More details are available here.

– UNISON is the UK’s largest union, with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

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