Labour leader called on to support ‘necessary’ industrial action

Labour should support industrial action “when necessary” to help people who are struggling, John Mcdonnell has said.

The former shadow chancellor yesterday said he hoped Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer would “realise actually the publicmoodisthatpeopleneed support now”.

Sir Keir has said Labour must move from being a “party of protest” to one that can win an election in order to help working people.

Thelabourleaderhassaidhe supportspeople’srighttostrike, but previously banned frontbenchers from joining strikers on picket lines.

He faced a backlash from unions and the left wing of his party over his decision to sack Samtarryfromthefrontbench after he gave broadcast interviews from a picket line.

Mrmcdonnelltoldbbcradio 4’s World at One: “I think out there now you are seeing millions of people taking industrial action, many of them never taking industrial action before, because they are desperate and they are looking to a Government and to a Labour leadership as well to support them.

“I am hoping that Keir Starmerwillrealiseactuallythepublic mood is that people need support now to get them through thiscrisisandlabourshouldbe at the forefront of that support.

“That means, yes, supporting industrial action when necessary.”

The former shadow chancellor backed a 10 per cent pay rise for all public sector workers in order to avoid future strikes.

“I think that is the only way we can protect them sinking into – in some instances – poverty,” he said.

Pressed about how to pay for the increases, the Hayes and Harlington MP said: “My view is we should follow what the Conservatives did in the 1950s in a similar crisis where they introduced an excess profits tax so that then you had the money coming in to enable people to have decent wages and proper public services.”

Earlier this week, Sir Keir unveiled Labour’s “fully costed” £29 billion plan to freeze the energy price cap at the current level of £1,971 for six months from October, saving the average household £1,000.

Meanwhile, Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss was accused of showing “her true colours” in an unearthed 2009 paper promoting vast government spending cuts.

Ms Truss called for patients to be charged to see their GP and for doctors’ pay to be slashed by 10 per cent in the controversial report she coauthored when she was deputy director of the Reform think tank.

Labour said Ms Truss’s report from 13 years ago, entitled “Back to Black”, revealed that “the reality of her agenda is devastating cuts”.

The report – which was compiled by seven authors including Ms Truss – also called for the abolition of universal child benefit, the removal of the winter fuel payment, and the axing of several major military procurement projects including the Royal Navy’s planned aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales – which were described as “inappropriate defence projects”.

Ms Truss’s campaign attempted to distance the Tory leadership candidate from the paper, with a campaign spokesperson saying: “Co-authoring a document does not mean that someone supports every proposal put forward."

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Liz Truss’s track record shows her true colours. She is out of touch and out of step with the public.”