UK unions accuse Tories of offering ‘nothing’ for workers in election manifesto
Union leaders in the UK slammed the Conservative manifesto as offering “nothing” for workers.
Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, said the Conservatives were also offering nothing for the UK’s “forgotten and left behind” towns and communities.
He said: “Tinkering around the edges offers nothing for those in our deindustrialised heartlands, or for those who voted Leave and are thinking of voting Tory or for their Brexit Party bedfellows.
“There’s nothing in it for young people, for pensioners, for nurses, for teachers, for car workers, for public sector workers.
“The Tories will do nothing to rebuild our manufacturing industries or stop the abuses of migrant workers by greedy bosses who use them to undercut pay and conditions.
“The Tories have nothing to offer that will make a real change to ordinary people. Only Labour’s manifesto speaks to the issues that effect everyday lives and only Labour can bring our divided country together.”
Manuel Cortes, leader of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, said: “This wafer thin offering from the Tories stands in stark contrast to Labour’s comprehensive and fully costed manifesto to reboot Britain.
“No serious party would come to the table with so little to say, and on Brexit, Johnson just sounds like a scratched record.
“He may not be aware but the Tories have been promising to get Brexit done for over three years. Saying it time and time again won’t make it happen and simply makes him look like even more of an Eton-educated buffoon.
“Johnson has no vision of how we build a better Britain or for the long-term health of our planet.
“This hollow manifesto is no programme for government. It offers just £3 billion a year increase in public spending over the course of parliament compared with £83 billion from Labour.”
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “Boris Johnson is offering nothing new to the British people – just more of the same. Public services would remain critically underfunded if the Conservatives win on December 12.
“No-one should be fooled by the promises for the NHS and public sector. For the past nine years the Tories have slashed funding and let services slide.
“Now they are trumpeting a reversal of their own bungled policy of scrapping the nursing bursary – a problem of their own making.
“Social care needs a massive investment and the amounts they propose would barely make a dent. The call for higher wages will ring hollow to the millions of people who have seen their wages frozen under the Conservatives.”
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “This Conservative plan doesn’t deliver for working people.
“It’s designed to benefit bosses and billionaires, but won’t fix our public services, protect workers’ rights or get wages rising for everyone.
“After a decade of Conservative-imposed austerity, our economy is weak and working families are paying the price. We need change.”
