ANGELA Rayner urged Labour to “finish the job” on workers’ rights as she addressed Unison’s annual conference today.

The former deputy Labour leader said that tomorrow’s Makerfield by-election is a choice between Downing Street hopeful Andy Burnham and Reform leader Nigel Farage’s “sexist puppet.”

“But that is just the start. We must finish the job on workers’ rights, not shy away from taking on union-busting bosses,” she said.

She said that Labour must “show we can run a government that delivers it by standing up to the vested interests ripping us off.

“For too long, governments have allowed wealth and power to concentrate at the top without a plan to ensure the benefits of economic growth are shared fairly.

“The result is an economy that does not work for the majority, with wealth concentrated in too few hands.”

Ms Rayner added that a rise in the number of 16-24 year olds not in employment, education or training is a “genuine problem” — but rejected claims that increasing the national minimum wage was the cause.

“Better quality jobs — with a stronger voice for people at work — is the solution, not the problem,” the senior Labour figure said.

“It is how we build the higher productivity, higher pay economy that we need. This should be common sense.”

She urged Labour to “harness the power of procurement to reshape the economy and unleash the biggest wave of in-sourcing in a generation.”

“Reject any bailout of the private owners of Thames Water and put it back under public control,” she added.

“Defend our democracy and society from any foreign dictator or fascist oligarch who seeks to divide our country and buy our politics.”