CWU general secretary Dave Ward has reflected on fusing the industrial and political in an exclusive interview with the Morning Star as conference drew to a close in Bournemouth.

The now biennial CWU get-together began on Sunday, just a few short days after the party it is affiliated to was hammered in polls from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Day two brought a hard-fought debate on political strategy and the union’s affiliation with Labour.

Mr Ward told the Star: “The most important thing from my perspective is that the union movement says, we are here to unite working-class people.

“Across ethnicity, across gender, I think that’s really important that we start to sort of tackle this politics of polarisation — identity politics.

“I think that we’re at a point now where we’ve got to get back to standing up for working-class people and listening to what they’ve got to say.”

He continued: “We were critical of Labour’s culture and the way that they’ve disconnected from working-class people, which isn’t just down to Keir Starmer, that’s happened over many, many years.

“But that connection has delivered the Employment Rights Act — something we pioneered — which is a good first step.

“We still support renationalisation of Royal Mail, but the Labour government have taken a golden share back in the business, which will be key to [Royal Mail CEO Daniel] Kretinsky sticking to his agreements.

“We’ve also got an agreement on universal service obligation reform, a first step to delivering a level playing field for Royal Mail, saving the business and thousands of our members’ jobs.

“Whatever way people may vote at the moment, it’s in the interest of our members that we stay affiliated at the moment, and I’m pleased conference saw that.”

For Mr Ward, the rapidly changing nature of work lies at the heart of political disaffection and the rise of the far right, and unions have a key role to play in tackling both.

“People are worried about AI, the impact on jobs, and there’s no clear way at the moment that anybody can see a real benefit from it,” he said.

“It’s why you need to connect industrial and political.

“If we don’t take this on, then we’re going to end up with tech giants cleaning up again, power and wealth going to the top of society again, and working people paying the price again.

“People feel disempowered, driving them to the political extremes.

“People feel they’ve got no agency or influence over anything that’s happened to them, in work or out work.

“Unions have got to address these issues.

“It’s about time the Labour government did too, whoever ends up leading it going forward.”