The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book
ONE of the two contenders for the Tory leadership has threatened to further restrict the activities of trade unions, an enduring obsession of the Thatcherite right.
The detail is inevitably lacking, but Liz Truss wants “minimum service levels” where public-sector workers have balloted for a legal strike. The implications of this are deeply concerning — even if probably not fully thought through by Truss’s team.
RMT leader Mick Lynch, writing in the Daily Mirror, argued that Truss wants to go back to 1871, the date of the Act that legalised trade unions. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady has warned of a fundamental attack on the right to organise and an assault on democracy as understood across Europe.
MATT ALLEN salutes the workers and reps who push back against bosses, win for members and make the Unite union what it is
Labour movement history in Britain shows workers secured reforms through collective pressure and political representation, rather than being gifted from above, writes KEITH FLETT
The unions are unhappy with the Employment Rights Act 2025 and with good reason. KEITH EWING and Lord JOHN HENDY KC take a close look at why the Bill promised more than it delivered
It’s not just the Starmer regime: the workers of Britain have always faced legal affronts on their right to assemble and dissent, and the Labour Party especially has meddled with our freedoms from its earliest days, writes KEITH FLETT


