TUC leader angry' at state of Labour but says it can recover to win next election

Paul Nowak said frustration with Keir Starmer’s Labour government is widespread among Labour-affiliated trade unions. He warned that significant change is required to prevent Reform UK from winning power, citing devastating election results on 7 May. Nowak said Labour won a landslide election on a manifesto centered on “Change,” but many people have not experienced real change in their finances. He pointed to polling showing fewer than one in five people think they are better off, while 46% think personal finances are getting worse. He said cost of living is the top issue for 65% of people, and Labour must demonstrate it is on the side of working-class people.

"Nowak said the statement from the Labour unions was clear about the change that was now needed. They don't think he could lead Labour into the next election. I'm not going to cut across where our Labour unions are at, but whoever is in No 10, they've got to show working-class people that they are on their side. I think what you got from that statement was that overwhelming sense of frustration, 22 months out from that landslide election victory, which Labour won on the basis of a manifesto that had one word on the cover: Change'."

"Nowak said the results of the elections on 7 May were devastating for Labour and showed the country was on course for a Reform government unless there was radical change. But he said there was still time for the party to recover in the three years before the next general election and Labour should not be fatalistic. TUC polling in the aftermath of the elections found that fewer than one in five people think they are becoming better off, while nearly half (46%) think their personal finances are getting worse."

"The cost of living was the top issue for 65% of people, almost double the proportion who named immigration. Nowak, whose union body had been a strong supporter of the Starmer government, said the state of the polls made him angry, to be honest with you some of th"

Read at www.theguardian.com