The Government’s much-touted negotiating threat that ‘no deal would be better than a bad deal’ risks doing huge damage to the UK economy, our jobs, rights at work and living standards. Last week the all-party Commons Select Committee on International Trade made clear that…Read more…
New institutions needed to address concerns about migration
The Government has decided that ‘taking back control’ of the UK’s borders is more important than anything else, more important in particular than working people’s jobs and living standards. Even if immigration numbers don’t actually come down as a result, the…Read more…
Unite urges members to sound the alarm if jobs threatened by #Brexit
Unite has launched a new website to make sure its members are kept informed about what’s happening about Brexit, an online resource dedicated to bringing the news, views, facts and analysis on…Read more…
No deal could be the worst deal possible, warn MPs
The Prime Minister has argued that, when it comes to Britain’s relationship with the EU after Brexit, no deal would be better than a bad deal (I’m worried that some Conservative MPs actually think no deal would be better than a good deal, too!) It is frequently argued that holding out…Read more…
Stopping the Government tinkering with workers’ rights
We’ve welcomed the Prime Minister’s promise to protect and enhance the rights of working people that the EU has underpinned over the last forty years, but we’ve stressed the need for a cast-iron mechanism to guarantee those rights aren’t watered down, and ensure the rights…Read more…
#Right2Remain gains wider support: so what’s the problem?
On Sunday morning, the House of Commons Select Committee on Exiting the European Union (the ‘Brexit Committee’ chaired by Hilary Benn MP) released a report urging the government to unilaterally grant the right to remain to EU citizens living and working in the UK. The cross-party group…Read more…
Free trade: what would it take to get union backing?
Today I was asked to give a speech at the Foreign Office by Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, about free trade. This is an edited version of my remarks. The debate over free trade is a timely one, given that those who advocate prote…Read more…
Lords begin voting on the Brexit Bill: our view
Today and Wednesday, the Article 50 Brexit bill – known formally as the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2016-17 – will get its committee stage in the House of Lords. This is the stage where most of the voting will take place on specific amendments (although there may be…Read more…
Brexit priorities: rights, living standards and jobs
Brexit is the defining issue of British politics. Our over-riding concern is to ensure that working people don’t pay the price for Brexit, and we are making progress. But there is a lot more to do to protect people’s rights at work, and we also need to tackle the impact on living…Read more…
What does Brexit mean now? (According to the White Paper)
Last Thursday, the Government published its hastily promised and delivered white paper on exiting the European Union. The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union was longer than many expected, but did not really add much to what the Prime Minister said in her…Read more…
MPs debate Brexit: we want to know what will happen to our rights at work
Today, the second reading debate for the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2016-17 begins. Or in shorthand, MPs will finally start debating Article 50, or the start of the Brexit negotiations. It has taken a long time to get something substantive debated – something more than…Read more…
2017 will be a defining moment in unions’ fight against discrimination
The British people’s decision to leave the EU is set to dominate the TUC’s work over the next few years. And I believe that, alongside securing a deal which protects jobs, Brexit poses two central challenges. The first challenge is to fight racism. Since the referendum result, we’ve seen an upsurge…Read more…
Brexit is too important to be left to Westminster
The UK Supreme Court judgement has finally clarified the key role of parliament in triggering Article 50. That judgement reinforced the centrality of elected politicians to decisions that will shape the future of the UK, as opposed to the Prime Ministe…Read more…
Putting working people first in the Brexit plans: we’re ready to talk
It’s a bit of a risk, writing a blog about where we are in the Brexit negotiations saga. Events often move with astonishing speed: so on top of last week’s Lancaster House speech by the Prime Minister, this week has already seen the Supreme Court’s decision on whether Parliament…Read more…
Jobs & living standards no longer top priority for government
Although her speech on industrial strategy on Monday could redress the balance a bit, the Prime Minister’s speech on Brexit last week confirmed that her government is putting jobs and living standards lower down their agenda than exiting the European Union and reducing migration. Is the era…Read more…
Black members’ conference tackles a range of issues
Busy morning looks at impact of Brexit, mental health issues, immigration and austerity, London mayoral election and Black representation
The article Black members’ conference tackles a range…Read more…
Hammond reveals a stark choice: single market or deregulated tax-haven
While Prime Minister May was engaged in a second weekend of mixed messages about whether she will advocate a hard or soft Brexit, her Chancellor was telling German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that if we don’t get to keep full access to the single market, Britain will indeed be likely to become…Read more…
MPs right to call for a Brexit that protects working people
The first report of the Brexit Select Committee, published this morning, is right to call on the government to set out its plans for Brexit, including membership of the single market and the Customs Union, among other things. The TUC believes that thes…Read more…
Three key messages from Sir Ivan Rogers’ resignation
The headlines yesterday and today focus on “muddled thinking” as the key phrase to stand out from the leaked resignation e-mail of the civil service’s top man in Brussels, Sir Ivan Rogers. But in fact, that’s only the third most important part of the story around the shock…Read more…
When a big lie fails, hard Brexiteers tell a bigger one
It’s hard to work out what’s most ludicrous about this morning’s ‘news’ that Michael Gove and others claim that leaving the EU Customs Union would benefit Britain by £450 million a week and create 400,000 new jobs. My favourite is the claim that once we leave the EU we…Read more…