FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged to oppose the Trade Union Bill “tooth and nail” yesterday and promised trade unionists that her government would not co-operate with its strictures should it become law in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon told delegates to Unite Scotland’s policy conference that she would continue to fight for the devolution of “powers over trade union and employment law” to Holyrood but would not implement the Bill, and would “never employ agency workers to undermine a strike.”

Ms Sturgeon set out a vision in which trade unions were “partners for progress” rather than “enemies,” as the Tory government sees them.