Up to 70 Labor MPs could join union picket lines on Friday as Keir Starmer faces a new battle to maintain party unity over support for striking workers.
A shadow minister was believed to be considering joining a Communications Workers Union (CWU) picket line as thousands of BT staff began two days of strikes over pay, which would mean a potential new conflict with the Labor leader’s office.
Mr Starmer’s policy of ordering his leaders to stay away from picket lines, which has been in place since last month and has so far been very loosely enforced, has sparked anger among some of his MPs. It was questioned on Thursday by Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham, the Labor mayors of London and Greater Manchester respectively, among others.
The issue returned to the spotlight after Starmer sacked Sam Tarry as shadow transport minister for giving broadcast interviews from a rail strike picket line, although his presence there was not given as a reason
Speaking to reporters in Birmingham on Thursday, Starmer said Tarry lost his role because he “signed up to media programs without permission and then invented a policy with his foot”, undermining collective accountability.
A member of the shadow cabinet said he sympathized with Tarry, who also faces being overruled by his home party, but “unfortunately doing an unauthorized media round made things untenable”.
Speaking on Thursday, Starmer stressed that it was “very right” for unions to act on behalf of members and that joining a picket line would not necessarily merit action against other leaders, saying he would take “each case as it comes “.
But his stance has dismayed a number of MPs, and a number of shadow cabinet ministers are understood to be worried about politics with the UK ahead of a possible wave of strikes in the autumn and winter over pay awards below inflation.
Labor MPs said they were fielding calls from unions asking if they would support the upcoming industrial action. A CWU source said the union expected between 30 and 70 MPs to join BT workers on pickets, with Tarry due to attend one in central London. A shadow minister is also believed to be considering attending a picket.
The most vocal criticism of Starmer’s approach has come from the left of the party. In an article for The Guardian on Thursday, John McDonnell, who was shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, said there was “palpable” anger among unions.
“This may not matter to the leader’s team when the Tories are self-immolating themselves with so much help, but when times get tough and union cavalry is needed to save the leader, they can remember who was and who wasn’t on the picket line this summer. lines,” McDonnell wrote.
However, one official said he believed discontent was evident “well beyond the usual suspects” and the issue is likely to become more pressing as the strikes drag on.
Speaking on Thursday, Khan said that but for the time pressures of his mayoral duties, he would gladly join a picket line. “Absolutely,” he told LBC radio. “Unions have been a fundamental force for good in our country over the past weeks, months and years.”
Burnham said Labor needed to be aware of the scale of hardship people were facing. “We can never be a party that undermines workers who are fighting to protect their incomes and a cost of living crisis,” he told GB News. “If we’re not careful, we could come this way.”
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A Labor source said Starmer’s belief was that a party determined to enter government would not be able to back a series of union pay demands it might have to decide on, for the public sector, amid difficult economic circumstances.
“We recognize that it is an emotional and important issue, and we have to go down a difficult path. This is not an attempt to have a symbolic clash with the unions, it is much more prosaic,” they said.
But one MP said there was genuine concern about how Starmer’s position got across to voters: “There are people like Martin Lewis warning about civil unrest over energy bills and poverty. People are very, very worried, and if they are looking for Labour, it seems that the leadership is not there for them”.