Top union leader delivers warning to Labour as Keir Starmer hit by criticism

The head of one of Labour’s biggest union backers has accused the party of abandoning its roots - and warned it could pull its support.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham, who has been a vocal critic of Keir Starmer, said the Government was failing to connect with workers.

She told the Mirror: “There is a feeling by me, by my members, by workers across the board, that Labour is moving so far away from Project Labour that it’s hard to justify being affiliated to them. They may not think that’s a problem but it will be a problem.”

Unite backed a motion to potentially rethink its relationship with Labour in July, which could involve cutting ties and funding. It has around 1.2 million members, making it the second largest Labour-affiliated union, behind Unison.

Ms Graham said: “If we had a rules conference tomorrow, they (members) would vote to disaffiliate. Our rules conference isn’t set to be for a while… but I think it’s becoming harder and harder to justify.”

READ MORE: Blow for Keir Starmer as two Labour heavyweights publicly hit out at his leadership

It comes as Andy Burnham and Emily Thornberry publicly hit out at Keir Starmer's leadership style as the Government battles to get on the front foot after a difficult first year.

The PM's plans for a reset were blown off course by Angela Rayner's resignation on Friday, after the PM's ethics adviser found she had broken ministerial rules when she mistakenly underpaid stamp duty on her seaside flat.

Mr Starmer rushed forward a sweeping Cabinet reshuffle as he ramped up pressure on his top team to deliver for voters. But Ms Rayner's departure has paved the way for a potentially fractious race to elect a deputy leader.

As unions gathered in Brighton for the annual Trades Union Congress, Ms Graham said Labour must begin to deliver on its promises and cannot offer "jam tomorrow" if it wants to see off the threat of Reform UK.

She said: "I think they feel like they've got quite a long time [until the next election] and 'if we get into year three we'll be able to rein it back.

"I think for some people they've gone anyway. But if they [Labour] start defending workers, I think they'll be able to retrieve some of this."

She added: "If more money goes in workers' pockets, they spend it. That helps growth. For me, it's jobs, it's investment in British industry. You know, not jam tomorrow."

Unite has previously clashed with the Government by suspending Angela Rayner's membership over the handling of a bin strikes dispute in Birmingham. A Labour source said at the time that she had already quit her membership and branded the move a "silly stunt".

Earlier, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham voiced his alarm that "good people" were having the whip withdrawn and warned Labour is becoming increasingly fractured.

He hit out at the decision to suspend the whip from rebels after backbenchers forced a U-turn on welfare cuts.

The former Health Secretary, who was an MP from 2001 to 2017, said: "They need to listen to them (Labour MPs) more and respect them more.

"They were the ones who caused the change in terms of winter fuel and disability benefits.

"But they shouldn't be punished for that. I see good people, good MPs, losing the whip, people like Rachael Maskell, that doesn't seem fair to me.

"It didn't happen in the governments I was in, in Gordon Brown's government or Tony Blair's government. We need a different style here, so that everyone is included and we pull together."

Mr Starmer came under fire after Labour twice withdrew the whip for groups of left-wing rebels.

In the first weeks of the new Government seven were suspended for opposing Mr Starmer over the two-child benefit limit, although five have since been re-admitted.

And in July four - Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff and Ms Maskell - had the whip withdrawn.

Dame Emily Thornberry, who is considering running for deputy leader, warned Labour is now in for "the fight of our lives" to prevent Nigel Farage getting into No10 as she accused Mr Starmer of not listening to allies.

Dame Emily said on BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: "We're back on the international scene, but domestically things just don't seem to be working.

"I mean, there are things that we're doing which are fantastic, but nobody seems to know about it."

She continued: "Nobody seems to be hearing about that. They hear about the mistakes. And the question is, why are we making these mistakes?

"We can't afford to keep doing this because we've gone from having the fantastic gift from the British public of a huge majority to now being at 20% in the polls, and we will have in the next election, I think, the biggest fight of our lives."

And Dame Emily added: "The last thing we want is to go from a position where it was thought we would be in for two terms, to hand our country over to Farage."

Asked what the problem is, she said: "I think it's not listening. And he's not listening to people of goodwill who want the party to succeed."

Defence Secretary John Healey said: "Our focus has been on the public that elected us, the delivery that we're charged to change their lives. It's a big part of the job we all do."

He added: "Any government is stronger with Angela Rayner but we've got a good new team in place and that's our job."

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