Labour must pull together and avoid ‘self-pity and recriminations’ over election defeat, union leader says

‘We need to show humility, reflect – and then pick ourselves up and prepare for the battles ahead’

‘Our job is to fight for working people, not against each other,’ says Frances O’Grady (PA)

Labour must pull together and avoid engaging in “self-pity and recriminations” as it deals with the fallout from the disastrous election result, one of the UK’s most prominent union leaders has warned.

In her new year message Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, stressed the importance of holding Boris Johnson’s “feet to the fire” on workers’ rights in the coming months.

“We will fight to make sure that the UK’s Brexit trade deals protect labour standards and good jobs – and stop Donald Trump getting his hands on our NHS,” she said on Monday.

Labour is launching a post-mortem into its worst election defeat of the postwar era and is preparing to formally kick off the process of electing Jeremy Corbyn’s successor next year.

On Sunday, nearly a dozen defeated Labour candidates called for a “fundamental change” in the party’s leadership and an “unflinching review” into what contributed to the largest Tory majority since Margaret Thatcher’s administration.

In a scathing assessment of Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the party, the former MPs and parliamentary candidates claimed “cronyism” at the top of the party and a “repeated unwillingness to stand up to the stain of antisemitism” were relayed to them during the campaign.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, also warned Labour risks becoming a “shrunken political party” in the mould of the Liberal Democrats or the Green Party as he criticised the radical manifesto “that simply wasn’t credible”.

But speaking on Monday, Ms O’Grady said: “As we face the challenges of the 2020s, all parts of the labour and trade union movement must pull together. We must be a broad church – and a bigger one too.

“My message to the labour movement for the year ahead is this: now is not the time for self-pity or recriminations. Our job is to fight for working people, not against each other.

“We need to learn the lessons of the 2019 election and listen to the working-class communities we exist to serve. We need to show humility, reflect – and then pick ourselves up and prepare for the battles ahead.”

Ms O’Grady also pledged that the trade union movement will scrutinise the prime minister on his promises to invest in schools and hospitals, get real wages rising and deliver stronger rights at work.

“We will resist his attacks on the right to strike and on the very organisations that help people get a better deal at work – unions,” she said.

Ms O’Grady continued: “Boris Johnson says he has been ‘loaned’ blue collar votes – and that he will have to earn their trust. He will be tested earlier than he thinks.

“His party forced working people to pay the price of the global financial crash. Now it’s payback time.

“The policies that unions champion – stronger rights at work, a ban on zero-hours contracts, action to get wages rising and fair trade deals – are popular, whichever party people voted for and in every part of the country.”