Watch live as Sir Keir Starmer addresses the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Brighton on Tuesday, 10 September, after its president warned that a second wave of austerity will boost the rise of the far right in Britain’s left-behind communities.
The prime minister is braced for backlash as he continues to back removing winter fuel payments from 10 million pensioners.
Labour’s Cabinet is united behind plans to dramatically scale back the allowance, Downing Street has insisted amid mounting calls, including within party ranks, for the government to soften the policy.
However, Sir Keir is likely to face a backbench rebellion in a House of Commons vote on Tuesday; some 17 Labour MPs have now signed a motion put forward by Neil Duncan-Jordan, one of the parliamentary party’s newly elected members, calling on the government to delay implementing the cut.
The motion has also been backed by six of the seven MPs who lost the party whip in July after voting against the King’s Speech over the government’s refusal to abolish the two-child benefit cap.
Labour insists the cut is necessary to help fill a £22bn “black hole” in this year’s budget left by their Conservative predecessors.
Matt Wrack, the Fire Brigades Union general secretary and current president of the TUC, has warned Sir Keir that his mandate for power is based on a collapse in support for the Tories “not love for Labour”.
“People are in despair, and that’s how [far-right] elements have won support here in the UK and elsewhere in Europe,” he warned.