Angela Rayner today vowed to defend the right to strike “as long as I have breath in my body” as she announced plans to undo a wave of Tory privatisation.
Labour ’s deputy leader won a standing ovation after an 18-minute speech at the party conference, where she reeled off a string of Tory scandals.
Promising the “biggest wave of insourcing for a generation”, she said before any service is contracted out, “public bodies must show that the work couldn’t be better done in-house”.
“The Tories have become too dependent on handing away our public services on the cheap, and now we are paying the price,” she said.
And comparing Labour's bid for government to the run-up to Tony Blair's landslide, she said: "Just as our country was desperate for change in 1997, we need change now. Because Britain is at a crossroads. A moment of decision. About what future we want, about what we can collectively achieve, about who we can be."
Ms Rayner was cheered by members for pointedly defending the right to strike - moments after leader Keir Starmer was questioned on TV about the issue.
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AFP via Getty Images)She said: “Decent work, fair pay. The foundations of a family life.
“Conference, as long as I have breath in my body I will defend those rights - and including the right to strike.”
Earlier Keir Starmer said “I support the right of individuals to go on strike”, but was pressed on why he was not standing with striking workers on picket lines.
He has banned frontbenchers from joining picket lines, with Sam Tarry sacked as shadow transport minister in July for giving unauthorised media interviews from an RMT demonstration.
He could also face a vote from members later this week on changing Labour's position on workers' rights, depending what a priorities ballot selects at 3pm today.
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Ian Vogler)Image:
AFP via Getty Images)He told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme the "single most important thing" he can do for those striking is to "usher in a Labour government".
Sir Keir was presented with footage of dockers striking nearby in Liverpool, who said he should show "solidarity" with workers.
Pressed on why he was not standing with them, he said his role at the helm of the Labour Party is "not the same job as the leader of a trade union".
"My job is to make sure that we get the Labour Party from opposition, where we can just say things but not do things, into power, where we can do things," he said.
He said Labour's "strong" links with the trade unions will remain "long into the future".
Labour’s deputy leader was cheered and got laughs as she lashed out at the Tories and reeled off a string of scandals under Boris Johnson.
She said: “Just look at this government’s record since we last gathered in Liverpool just four years ago.
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)“Three different leaders, a catalogue of sleaze, waste and lies. Cummings, Paterson and Pincher backed to the hilt.
“Chris Grayling. Grant Shapps. And too much Matt Hancock - far too much Matt Hancock. Green Cards and Non-Doms, treehouses and even Tractor Porn!
“Breaking the law in a specific and limited way. Queues at the airports, chaos at the borders. Mountains of PPE unfit for use. Billions in fraud written off.
“Sewerage in the rivers. A Prime Minister hiding in a fridge. Three sleaze watchdogs out in the cold. And the Barnard Castle eye test.
“The Downing Street crime scene - broken swings, wine stains, sick on the walls, 126 fines - more than anywhere else in the country.
“Rules made. Rules Broken. Partygate. Wallpapergate.
“Too many Gates. Too little, too late mate.”
After Liz Truss announced a crackdown to make benefit claimants seek more hours, she added: “And now a Prime Minister who says people don’t work hard enough. Well, enough is enough.”
She vowed to “reinstate and strengthen the Two-Tier Code, created by the last Labour Government and scrapped by the Tories, to end the scandal of outsourced workers getting second class pay and conditions.”
And she pledged a Fair Work Standard, with a Fair Work Code for the public sector, “guaranteeing fair conditions, job security, wellbeing, proper training, rights at work, and union access.”