Strategy of Nigel Farage Targeting Labour's Faithful Voters - Efforts to Prevent His Advancement Revealed
For many years, trade unions have found their primary adversary in the conservative realm. But now, they're grappling with a new type of foe - one they might label a wolf in sheep's clothing.
It all began when Nigel Farage, an ardent champion of free trade and private markets, refrained from lambasting the Unite union over their bin strike in Birmingham. Instead, he called for the nationalization of British Steel following the near collapse of its plant in Scunthorpe.
The Reform UK leader has been courting union members, speaking their language and brandishing their leaflets in public, a strategy that some perceive as opportunistic and deceitful. Farage's union-friendly flirtations have alarmed trade union leaders so much that the executive of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), representing unions nationwide, has been huddled in meetings, plotting a strategy to combat his appeal and more broadly, the far-right.
Over the weekend, as the two main parties were reeling from the thumping they took in the local elections, largely at the hands of Farage's party, Unison's general secretary Christina McAnea encouraged union members in councils now controlled by Reform to join a union.
"Unions ensure no one can skirt the law," she said, after Farage threatened to sack staff working in areas such as diversity or climate change.
Political masquerade
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Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, has ramped up his criticism of the former UKIP leader, accusing him of "cosplaying as a champion of working people."
"He's not fighting for working people," he tells our website. "He's siding with bad bosses who exploit their staff. Unions will expose him for the political fraud he is."
Currently, the campaign against Farage is primarily focused on highlighting his questionable voting record, particularly his decision to oppose the Employment Rights Bill, a bill unions have been pushing for decades. The bill offers protection from unfair dismissal from the first day of employment and sick pay for all workers from the first day of absence, among other measures.
The TUC claims the bill is incredibly popular - and not just among Labour voters. In a poll conducted by Hope Not Hate, banning zero hours contracts is supported by more than seven in ten UK voters, including two in three Reform voters for the 2024 election.
"People will find improvements to their life and work," an insider tells our website. "We want them to understand who was for it, and who was against it."
The TUC has also begun promoting videos on social media in which workers in the electric vehicle industry accuse Farage of threatening their jobs.
Farage's response to the bill has been to claim that a clause within it that protects workers from third-party harassment could herald the end of "pub banter."
'There has always been a camaraderie with unions'
But Gawain Towler, an ex-Reform press officer who has worked with Farage for 20 years, insists his former boss is not against workers' rights - he's just opposed to Labour's bill.
"Reform doesn't see it as a workers' rights' bill - we think it takes away opportunities for employment because it scares people away," he says. He believes mass migration is the real obstacle to better wages and job security, and argues net-zero policies are "costing union members their jobs."
The government may point to a recent study suggesting the net-zero sector has grown by 10% over the past year, supporting the equivalent of 951,000 full-time jobs[3].
For Farage's allies, his courtship of union members is neither disingenuous nor new.
"He's anti-union management, he's not anti-union," says Towler, noting Farage's friendship with the late union leader and Brexit advocate Bob Crow[4]. "Nigel has always been a free trader, but he's never been deeply partisan, which is why he was able to start the Brexit Party. There has always been a camaraderie with unions."
Indeed, on one issue, a commonality is emerging between Reform and the GMB union. While general secretary Gary Smith has criticized Farage for being "soft on Russia" and for voting against the Employment Rights Bill, there is an agreement between the pair over the impact of net-zero.
Those skeptical of the government's plans for the green transition point to Port Talbot in Wales, where around 2,500 workers are expected to lose their jobs[5], and Grangemouth, Scotland, where the closure of Scotland's last remaining oil refinery is expected to result in around 400 job losses[6].
Although Unite has no common ground with Reform, it has warned there should be "no ban without a plan" when it comes to issuing new oil and gas licences[7].
'Labour has one shot with workers'
For some unions, Labour's position on certain issues has provided Reform with an opening.
There's disappointment at some Labour policies in government - from partly watering down the Employment Rights Bill to stave off dissent from business leaders, to welfare cuts and offering below-inflation pay raises for public sector workers[8].
Gawain Little, the general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions, tells our website the party risks leaving "space open for fakers like Farage to come along and pretend they have people's interests at heart."
Only a sense that austerity is over, alongside the resolution of the cost-of-living crisis, will genuinely "challenge" the Reform leader, he says.
One GMB member says Farage's strategy is "from the same playbook" as right-wing parties in Europe, such as the AfD in Germany and Georgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy.
By "continuously legitimizing" Reform by talking tough on migration, union activists who usually get the word out for Labour have been left demoralized.
Farage on the picket line?
The current distance with some unions did not start in government. It began in opposition, when Labour refused to back workers who were on strike and when the party did not endorse some candidates put forward by some of the more left-wing unions.
But so far, sources in Labour have dismissed Farage's tactics as just empty talk - and believe his previous anti-union rhetoric will undermine him when he tries to court votes. In fact, Farage's calls for the renationalization of steel have been interpreted as him "trying to jump on the bandwagon" of Labour's success.
However, Damian Lyons Lowe, the founder of pollster Survation, spots a danger for Labour if Farage is able to successfully tilt in the direction of workers' rights - especially if the government finds itself unable to follow.
He says taking the side of unions in an industrial dispute over pay would be an example of a classic "wedge" strategy that Farage can deploy to corner Labour.
Read more: Why is it taking so long to settle the Birmingham bin dispute? || Tories 'are not doing a deal with Reform,' Kemi Badenoch insists
And given the government's initial 2.8% pay offer to public sector workers is below that reportedly drawn up by the independent pay review body for NHS workers and teachers, there is a very real prospect this scenario could arise.
"It could pose a real threat to Labour," Lyons Lowe says, with union members in "post-industrial" areas potentially receptive to a message of "protectionism, industrial revival, and national self-sufficiency."
Could what started with Farage brandishing leaflets end up with him joining the picket line? While one union insider doesn't think Farage will ultimately convince union leaders, members may be tempted.
The Starmer government has "one shot to deliver for workers," they warn.
"If they don't, Farage and Reform are waiting in the wings."
- The Reform UK party leader, Nigel Farage, has been accused of being "cosplaying as a champion of working people" by Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, due to his recent actions and statements.
- Union leaders, particularly from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), are alarmed by Farage's union-friendly flirtations and are plotting a strategy to combat his appeal and the far-right.
- In a poll conducted by Hope Not Hate, banning zero hours contracts is supported by more than seven in ten UK voters, including two in three Reform voters for the 2024 election, according to an insider.
- Gawain Little, the general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions, warns that Labour risks leaving "space open for fakers like Farage to come along and pretend they have people's interests at heart."
