Natalie Bennett has accused Labour of ‘sitting on the fence’ amid mounting government attacks on trade unions.
In an interview with The London Economic, the former leader of the Green Party said Keir Starmer was ‘trying very hard’ to edge to the right in a bid to appeal to swing voters in the run-up to the next election.
Her comments follow the introduction of new regulations aimed at ensuring minimum levels of service during strikes which came into force on Friday.
Set to apply to the rail sector, border security and ambulance services, the regulations will enable employers to issue work notices to identify people who are “reasonably required to work” to ensure minimum service levels are met.
Last week, Bennett tabled a so-called fatal motion in the House of Lords which would have refused to pass the regulations if it had obtained the support of the House.
Labour peers were urged to back the motion which described the regulations as continuing ‘decades of attacks’ against trade unions, but abstained on the vote.
Instead, motions of regret were tabled, with Lord Collins of Highbury moving to express the House’s dissatisfaction that the draft Code of Practice would impose ‘significant new duties on trade unions’.
Earlier this month, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell called on Keir Starmer to ‘work with rather than against’ trade unionists as the party prepares for the next election.
According to the MP for Hayes and Harlington, the Labour party doesn’t ‘fully understand’ the role that trade unions play when voters look to the government for support.
“It’s very clear that Labour is trying very hard not to sit on the fence and to edge itself as far right as it can to scoop up those swing voters,” said Bennett.
“I have seen this all before, first hand in 2015. Ed Miliband didn’t see a fence that he didn’t want to sit on, and he was expecting the keys to Number 10 to fall into his lap.
“What I find on the doorstep and what journalists are reporting is there’s very few people going: ‘Yay, I want to vote Labour’. People are going: ‘I suppose we’ve got to get rid of the Tories.’
“And that really is a symptom of a politics that’s failing our population, that’s failing the challenges that we’re facing now with the climate emergency.
“What these regulatory regulations do is take [the right to strike] away. Labour did not stand up against taking that away, Labour failed to stand up for something that really is absolutely fundamental to the union movement.”
Watch the full clip below:
Related: Labour must ‘work with rather than against’ unions – McDonnell