The problem for Sir Keir Starmer is the problem the Labour Party has always had. The unions are in charge. Before the election, Labour convinced the electorate that things could only get better.
Remember Rishi Sunak standing in the rain, an image I’m sure must haunt him – D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better in the background, Tony Blair’s campaign track in 1997.
When Labour actually got into office, it became things would only get better, would get worse before they got better, and that those with the broadest shoulders will carry the heaviest burden.
Really? So why target pensioners? Why remove their winter fuel allowance? 10 million pensioners will lose up to £300. And that includes those with an income of just £13,000. So far, Keir Starmer, the Labour Party have given out bumper pay rises, capitulating to the unions claiming ending strikes would get the country moving again.
Nana Akua delivers her verdict on Sir Keir Starmer’s relationship with the UK’s unions
GB News
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh approved 14.25 per cent pay deal for train drivers over three years, without any concessions on reforming and modernising the system. She just handed out the cash, which meant that for many, their basic pay went from £60,000 to £69,000. Pretty broad shoulders.
Junior doctors were offered a rise of 22 per cent on average over two years, inadvertently incentivising other trade unions to make demands, too. Who’s next?
While salaries in these industries may not have kept up with inflation, nobody’s salary has kept up with inflation. Inflation was in double figures. In the private sector, you’d be told to take a running jump making those sort of demands.
But pensioners who have worked all their lives now at the latest stage, most don’t work and many can’t. How have they got the broadest shoulders? Those with the broadest shoulders will carry the heaviest burden, that’s what Keir Starmer said.
They keep banging on about a black hole. Well, let’s be clear. Part of that black hole funding gap is due to the very generous settlements that they’ve given to the unions.
The unions are major donors to the Labour Party. And that is, of course, how the party began. So it should come as no surprise that they were satisfied first. But the problem for Labour comes with history. And history has taught us that the unions, when the unions take over, the unions are turning on Sir Keir Starmer.
Three trade unions, in fact Unite, USDAW and the PCS are calling for Labour to change course. They’re demanding that Keir restores the winter fuel allowance for all pensioners.
The most senior figure of the PCS said: “We deal first hand with pensioners in receipt of winter fuel payments. We know how much they rely on them. If you take those payments away, people will have to make really hard decisions about heating their homes and eating.”
And in PMQs, Rishi Sunak accused the Keir Starmer of choosing well-paid rail staff while stripping the winter fuel allowance from pensioners. But those were the broadest shoulders he said would carry the heaviest burden.
Whilst Keir and his fellow MPs like Rachel Reeves, arrogantly announced the winter fuel policy without the necessary consultation and she even doubled down. They may think that they have a carte blanche to run roughshod with their 158 seat majority, but the unions are their real masters on winter fuel on that allowance and on this matter, I actually agree with the unions.
Those with the broadest shoulders should carry the heaviest burden, and it’s not pensioners. The question is though, who is running the show, the unelected union bosses or Starmer and his elected party?
