Unions reject Farage’s ‘open door’ as TUC urges Labour to act on energy bills

Nigel Farage’s offer of an alliance with Britain’s trade unions has been rebuffed within hours by the country’s largest labour organisations, as the Trades Union Congress instead called on the Labour government to impose an emergency social tariff on energy bills. In an interview with The Times, the Reform UK leader said “if you represent working people in this country, my door is open” and invited unions to attend his party’s conference in September, after a poll suggested he was the most popular party leader among trade union members. But the response was swift and unanimous. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Reform have shown absolutely no evidence that they are friends of workers. What needs to happen now is for the Labour Party to stop dithering and be the voice of workers.” Unison general secretary Andrea Egan accused Farage of a “con”, pointing out that Reform has pledged to scrap Labour’s Employment Rights Act, which gave workers sick pay from day one and the right to claim unfair dismissal after six months. “It’s a con to think Nigel Farage and his rich cronies are interested in unions for anything but cold hard cash,” she said. A GMB spokesperson added: “Mr Farage and his Reform MPs say one thing to workers and do another… we see them for what they are – re-badged Tories after union members’ basic rights.” Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary last month, said: “Farage has the audacity to vote consistently against the rights of workers and then claim he’s open to trade unions.” While Farage acknowledged there would be “disagreements”, he pointed to potential common ground over “historical injustices” surrounding the British Steel pension scheme. But the unions’ focus remains on Labour. The TUC, Britain’s biggest federation of workers, has called for an “emergency social tariff” to knock money off annual energy bills according to household income. Paul Nowak, the TUC’s general secretary, told the New Statesman: “It’s crucial to show working-class people and their families that the government is on their side and with Nigel Farage’s claim that Reform UK is the party of workers this week, it’s important that every decision the government takes is sending a signal to working people that it’s for them.” The scheme would cut bills by 30% for the lowest-income households, saving £559 a year; 20% for those below median income (£373); and 10% for middle and some higher earners (£186). The TUC says this would support 65% of all UK households, cut headline inflation by 0.3-0.4 percentage points, and cost £3.4-5.9bn per annum, to be paid for by an increased windfall tax on banks that could raise up to £60bn over four years. Nowak dismissed Farage’s invite as “laughable”. Yet internal union divisions remain. The NEU, Britain’s largest teachers’ union, is locked in a bitter dispute with Unite, Unison and the GMB over who organises teaching assistants, with one source saying it could lead to the NEU’s suspension from the TUC. As the TUC considers downsizing from its historic Bloomsbury headquarters, the spirit of brotherhood captured in Bernard Meadows’s modernist sculpture outside its building feels ever more distant.