SHADOW education secretary Angela Rayner told trade unionists today that people are disillusioned with “capitalist reality.”

Speaking at Unison’s annual conference in Brighton, Ms Rayner congratulated the union on its 25th anniversary.

The Unison activist praised fellow members for their “strong, confident” work fighting to abolish employment tribunal fees and for “running Tory ministers into court” to win a “landmark” victory.

Ms Rayner also congratulated Unison members for having “stopped” the Tories “in their tracks” during the 2017 general election.

“Just think back to last year and what we have achieved since,” she said.

“Then, we feared a Tory government with more power than they have had in decades. We didn’t quite make last June the end of May, but I believe it was the beginning of the end.

“Working together, we will finish the job next time and put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.”

Reflecting on the sudden popularity of the Labour leader’s socialist policies, she said that the Tories “still don’t get it.”

Voters, said Ms Rayner, have been appalled by austerity policies, particularly by the damage that cuts have dealt to the NHS, the police force and mental health services.

“They don’t understand what happened last year,” she said.

“They’ve even been discussing how young people need to be educated about the so-called history of socialism so they know why it is wrong to vote for us.”

But, said Ms Rayner, people aren’t rejecting the Tories because of “illusions about socialist theory” but “disillusion with a capitalist reality” — a reality, she said, that Unison members have been on the “sharp end” of.

Ms Rayner also pledged that the next Labour government will restore the NHS nurses’ bursary to tackle the nursing crisis, as well as put an end to NHS pay cuts.