Unite warns Labour to back workers or risk ‘sowing seeds of own destruction’

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the Government must do more for workers in 2026 or risk “sowing the seeds of its own destruction”.

Writing in The Times, Ms Graham accused Labour of becoming too concerned with “failing leadership” and who could potentially replace Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.

She added that Britain “needs vision” and described the country as “rudderless”.

“For too long it has been everyday people, workers and communities who have paid the price for crisis after crisis not of their making,” Ms Graham said. “In 2026 this must stop.

“The Government needs to decide what it stands for and who it stands for. If we have to ask, it is not working.

“The party faithful can agonise about its failing leadership and a ‘night of the long knives’. But a new Labour leadership with the same policies simply won’t cut it. The doom loop cannot be broken with more austerity lite, no matter who is in Downing Street.

“Britain needs vision. We led the first Industrial Revolution and we are nowhere in the fourth. Rudderless.”

Ms Graham called the debate surrounding who might replace Sir Keir as “inevitable” but warned that the next prime minister will face the same problems unless they undertake a shift in policy.”?

“Unite was the only affiliated union that did not endorse the manifesto, as it did not back jobs,” she said. “We fought back on the winter fuel allowance cut and the self-harm of net zero targets that came without the needed investment in new industries.

“Trade unions are there to fight for workers, not to side with politicians.

“In the recent budget, Labour opting for stealth taxes on workers instead of a wealth tax on the mega-rich was the wrong choice.

“Labour must stop being embarrassed to be the voice of workers.

“Workers are fed up with carrying the can.

“Take the UK’s parlous performance on productivity. It’s not workers who should be blamed – our productivity failures reflect an investment strike in UK plc. A collective failure to invest in industry, while maximising returns for shareholders.

“Britain is near the bottom of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) class in industrial investment and it wasn’t workers who put us there. Next year Labour must deliver real growth, borrow to invest in Britain to create a sustainable future.

“In the coming year, if this Government does not depart from its current path, it will surely be sowing the seeds of its own destruction.”