Prime minister speaks at the Trades Union Congress in Brighton before MPs vote on winter fuel payment plansKeir Starmer is about to give his speech to the TUC conference.According to an extract released in advance, he will promise a “politics of partnership”, saying that is what voters want. He will say:I call now, as before the election, for the politics of partnership. With us in government, with business, and most importantly of all, with working people … the mood is for partnership. And not just on pay – on everything. To turn around our NHS, give our children the start in life they deserve, make our public services fit for the future, unlock the potential of clean energy. A new era of investment and reform. The common cause of national renewal.
Partnership is a more difficult way of doing politics. I know there’s clarity in the old ways, the zero-sum ways: business versus worker, management versus union, public versus private. That kind of politics is not what the British people want.
We have the chance to deliver for working people: young people, vulnerable people, the poorest in society, because we changed the Labour party. So when I say ‘country first, party second’ – that isn’t a slogan. It’s the guiding principle of everything this government will do. We ran as a changed Labour party and we will govern as a changed Labour party. So I make no apologies to those, still stuck in the 1980s, who believe that unions and business can only stand at odds, leaving working people stuck in the middle.
“nd when I say to the public our policies will be pro-business and pro-worker, they don’t look at me as if I’m deluded, they see it as the most ordinary, sensible thing in the world. And I know there will always be disputes, but there is a mood of change in the business world, a growing understanding of the importance of good work and the shared self-interest that comes from treating the workforce with respect and dignity. The productivity gain of fairness which is an opportunity to be grasped. Continue reading…
Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/sep/10/labour-winter-fuel-payments-means-testing-vote-keir-starmer-tuc-conservatives-uk-politics-latest-updates
Author : Andrew Sparrow
Publish date : 2024-09-10 11:32:36
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