We need a grown-up approach to Brexit

Building on the manifesto, the star of the 2017 election, the party has to show that it’s got a compelling vision for voters.

So what am I hoping to see?

First and foremost, we need a grown-up approach to Brexit. At a time when the cabinet is arguing like schoolchildren, the UK needs to hear a sensible plan from Labour. This means prioritising jobs, rights and livelihoods by keeping all options on the table for a long-term deal.

At our annual congress in Brighton a fortnight ago, the whole trade union movement made our position clear. The final settlement must deliver frictionless, barrier-free, tariff-free trade, as well as guaranteeing a level playing field for workers’ rights, now and into the future. It must protect the Good Friday Agreement. And it must secure the rights of EU nationals who’ve made the UK their home — and those of Brits abroad too.

The trade union movement is not starry-eyed about the single market. We have had our criticisms. But we are pragmatists. And as things stand, we think staying in the single market is the option that best meets our tests, and so it is the best long-term option for working people and for Britain.

This week in Brighton, it has been good to hear Sir Keir Starmer strike a constructive and collegial tone. Contrast that with the government’s botched approach to negotiations. Telling Michel Barnier and his team “to go and whistle” may get Boris Johnson lots of column inches in the press, but it has done huge damage to our global reputation and made getting the right deal much harder.

Second, Labour has to show that it understands how the modern workplace is changing and set out how it would deliver a new deal at work. The rise of insecure jobs shows no sign of stopping, with zero-hours contracts or the revolving door of agency work the norm in too many parts of our labour market. Digitalisation and its impacts on jobs should make us reconsider how we make sure that no one is left behind by innovation.

If Labour is to deliver “for the many”, it must fight for great jobs with decent pay in every part of the UK. For the right to guaranteed hours and fair notice of shifts for every worker and the chance to get on in life and build skills. It must set out how productivity gains from digitalisation and AI will be fairly shared among working people, not just creamed off in profit while workers are left behind.

The TUC call this our Great Jobs Agenda and we hosted a packed fringe meeting on this topic earlier this week, showing the appetite for a new deal for working people.

And where better to start than to give public servants the payrise they have earned? After seven years of artificial pay restrictions, a midwife earns £3,300 less than in 2010. Firefighters, who risk life and limb to keep us safe, are £2,900 down. Their hard work, skill and dedication has been taken for granted by this government, while their living standards have plummeted.

Giving all public servants the above inflation pay rise they deserve — that they’ve earned! — would cost less than 2 per cent of departmental spending. It’s time for all of us – Labour and public service unions alike — to increase the pressure on the government to concede a decent payrise for all public servants at the budget in November.

After the last two years, I have given up trying to predict what will happen next in politics. But Labour must treat this week as an audition to voters and show why it is ready to be trusted with government.

This blog by TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady first appeared as a Red Box comment piece on the Times Online.