“You can’t outdo Nigel Farage on anti-migrant rhetoric”
A senior trade union leader has accused the Labour Party of ‘pandering to anti-migrant sentiment’ as part of a strategy that is ‘doomed to disaster’. Matt Wrack, general secretary of the teachers’ union NASUWT made the comments in an interview with Left Foot Forward at this year’s TUC Congress.
Wrack began by saying that Labour’s record on rebuilding Britain’s public services since coming to power last July is “frustrating”. He told Left Foot Forward: “For teachers, that’s reflected most starkly in this year’s pay settlement in England – so we have made some progress on pay but this year’s settlement of four per cent was not fully funded, so one per cent of that is going to have to be found out of school budgets. And depending on the schools and their own financial position, that will mean cuts.”
He continued by adding: “I think there’s a lot of frustration that that investment is not adequate and I think that story’s reflected across public services.”
When asked about the future direction of the government and what he wanted to see from the next deputy leader of the Labour Party, Wrack told Left Foot Forward: “I would expect that most unions – all unions – will want to see a Labour deputy leader who actually takes seriously the concerns of trade unions and of working people. I think Labour’s in a very severely difficult position and I think the message from this Congress is very clear – they need to change direction or they are in danger of losing the support […] that they gained in the run up to the last election in the trade union movement particularly around workers’ rights, they’re in danger of undermining that with the concern about employment rights, the lack of investment in public services, the unresolved cost of living crisis.”
He went on to say: “I think frankly the pandering to anti-migrant sentiment that we’ve seen including from the prime minister, and all of that I see as a strategy that’s doomed by the way. You can’t outdo Nigel Farage on anti-migrant rhetoric, no matter what you do. It’s a strategy that is absolutely doomed to disaster because whatever steps Labour takes, Farage will go one step further and he will always win that debate. Where Labour could beat Reform is on jobs, pay, public services. And I think you could cut a lot of ground from the right and from Reform if you just started to be seen to show whose side you’re on – that you’re clearly on the side of the majority of working people.”
NASUWT is not affiliated to the Labour Party, and therefore will not be involved in the nominations process for the deputy leadership.
Left Foot Forward also spoke to Wrack about the radicalisation of boys by the far right and online misogynist influencers as well as the impact this is having on teaching staff. He told Left Foot Forward: “It’s been raised in our union for a couple of years and it’s very much identified as a problem and a challenge and it then links into concerns that we might raise as behavioural issues in schools and misogyny and behaviour towards female teachers and female staff.”
Wrack added: “I think it’s a major challenge for teachers, parents, politicians to start to address. What’s happening in wider society is inevitably going to be reflected in behaviour in schools. That’s one strand of it. I think we’re likely to see other strands emerging with the flag protests, the hotel protests and so on. I think unfortunately we’re going to see some of that behaviour reflected in schools as well.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Left Foot Forward doesn’t have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you.
You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today.
