date: 21 May 2008

embargo: 1800hrs Wednesday 21 May 2008

Time to 'reconfigure the DNA of New Labour' says TUC leader

In a Progress lecture to be delivered in the House of Commons tonight (Wednesday), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber will say that an historic fourth term for Labour can still be achieved but only if ministers start conveying a much clearer sense of what a Labour Government stands for.

In 'What about the Workers? Has the Government Done Enough to Secure Working People's Support for a Fourth Term?' - Brendan Barber will say there that should be 'no retreat to the failures of the 1970s or 1980s, nor a fall into the trap of a 1,000 policy launches and initiatives. Instead the Government needs to find the courage once again to make the case for the most enduring Labour values - equality, fairness and social justice'.

Brendan Barber will point to 'welcome signs last week of a fresh start in the draft Queen's Speech package and in the decision to right the wrongs of the 10p tax debacle.' This week's significant breakthrough on agency workers after six years of deadlock is also 'a massive step forward, a hugely symbolic development in the battle to root out unfairness in Britain's workplaces. As the Prime Minister has now recognised, this was a problem that needed fixing.'

But the TUC General Secretary will also say that Labour 'has not been clear about what it wants to be - and where it now wants to go', adding that 'the support base that Labour brought together in 1997 needs convincing that the Party is on their side and fairness must once again be asserted.'

Citing errors he believes the Government has made, Brendan Barber will point to its dealings with public servants over pay and the pace of public service reform, saying that this has led to 'difficult industrial disputes with public service unions determined to battle hard to defend living standards. Labour is paying a heavy political price as six million public servants sense that the Government, far from being on their side, just sees them as an easy target'.

Turning to the economic pain being felt by voters, Brendan Barber will say that 'Britain's workers increasingly feel an acute sense of unfairness - aware that the spoils of corporate growth, of record profitability, are being creamed off by a tiny elite while pay rises for everyone else struggle to keep pace with the true cost of living.'

Brendan Barber will also be critical of the 'wholly disproportionate influence' that business interests have wielded on policy. 'Business in general - and the City in particular - has been given far too much freedom to push its deregulatory agenda, with scant regard for the wider social and economic circumstances.'

'There is a growing sense that the Square Mile is enjoying almost limitless power; yet sometimes behaves without responsibility. A small City elite of investment bankers, hedge fund managers and private equity partners are enjoying riches beyond the dreams of avarice, while outsourcing the risks to the rest of us - taking one way bets they know they can't lose'.

'And ordinary working people - whether they are heartland trade unionists or Daily Mail readers in marginal seats - increasingly feel they have no stake in this casino capitalism. They are angry that they are struggling to pay the bills as a super-rich minority is allowed to float free from the rest of society. Angry that they pay proportionately more tax than people whose earnings are a hundred or even a thousand times greater. And angry that they are now paying the price for the profligacy of others, with public money propping up the markets while billions are still being paid out in bonuses.'

In conclusion, Brendan Barber will ask how Labour can re-establish itself once again as a party of equality, fairness and social justice and ask what kind of policy agenda would secure working people's support for an unprecedented fourth term.

'Perhaps the most urgent task facing us all is to address the plight faced by the UK's two million vulnerable workers, trapped in insecure, irregular and low-paid work, exploited by unscrupulous employers and agencies. The TUC's Commission on Vulnerable Employment recently published its groundbreaking report, establishing not just the scale of the problem we face, but also the fact that so many of the abuses are taking place within the existing legal framework.

'From strengthening the enforcement of employment rights to creating new protections for homeworkers and establishing a new, permanent Fair Employment Commission, there is much we can do together'.

Brendan Barber will conclude by saying that 'the Government will not win the battle to convince the nation of its commitment to greater fairness for those at the bottom unless it discovers a new boldness in challenging the corporate and personal greed at the top. That means a new commitment to tax fairness and clamping down on the loopholes currently being exploited by the super-rich and the City. In short, reconfiguring the DNA of New Labour for a different age.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Brendan Barber's full speech can be found at http://www.tuc.org.uk/the_tuc/tuc-14830-f0.cfm The speech should be checked against delivery.

- 'What about the Workers? Has the Government Done Enough to Secure Working People's Support for a Fourth Term?' is sponsored by Progress and takes place on Wednesday 21 May at 6pm in Committee Room 12, House of Commons. Anne Moffat MP is chairing the event. If you would like to attend contact Mark Harrison at Progress on 0203 008 8180.

Contacts:

(TUC) Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
(Progress) Jessica Asato T: 0203 008 8180 M: 07939 594634 E: jessica@progressives.org.uk

Press release (1,000 words) issued 21 May 2008