The leader of Britain’s largest trade union has warned that Labour will hand the keys to No 10 to Reform UK unless it “changes course drastically” – as another senior figure prepares to challenge Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Andrea Egan, general secretary of Unison, told the BBC in her first broadcast interview since upsetting expectations to defeat incumbent Christina McAnea last December that her members were “desperate to have their voices heard”. She said the union had previously been “a sleeping giant” too “subservient” to the Labour leadership.
“Unison leader Andrea Egan warns Labour must change course or hand power to Reform UK.”
“When Labour came into power there was a sense of relief. But sadly we’ve been left wanting,” she said. “I have spoken out clearly about the threat Reform brings. It isn’t us that will hand the keys to No10 to Reform – it’s them, unless they change course. And drastically.”
Egan called for “progressive policies”: investment in infrastructure, pay restoration, better services and insourcing. She also demanded the government drop Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s migration reforms, which she described as “a betrayal of our most basic values”. “When they decided to scapegoat them, strip away their rights and deepen exploitation … they couldn’t have been more wrong,” she told Yahoo News. “Shabana Mahmood’s shameful proposals must be dropped immediately.”
Her remarks put Unison on a collision course with Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham, both expected to challenge Starmer after Thursday’s Makerfield by-election. Streeting, who resigned as health secretary after Labour’s historic local election defeat last month, said he was prepared to trigger a leadership contest next week if Starmer did not resign. Burnham rejected an offer of a major government role, with allies expecting him to move quickly against the prime minister. All 11 Labour-affiliated unions have called for a timetable for Starmer’s departure.
Egan, expelled from Labour for reposting messages from the proscribed Marxist group Socialist Appeal, insisted she had only ever been a Labour member and it was not her choice to leave. At this week’s conference in Brighton, Unison will discuss its relationship with the party but will not debate “disaffiliation” – severing formal and financial ties. She rejected Nigel Farage’s offer for unions to affiliate to Reform UK. “The union is affiliated to Labour at the moment,” she said, adding that members in each region would decide if that should change.
Meanwhile, standing in for Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he was “utterly appalled” at historic online comments made by Reform UK’s candidate in Makerfield.
The by-election takes place on Thursday, with Starmer insisting he will fight to remain in Downing Street. “I’m not walking away,” he said.