TODAY Labour conference will vote on the cut to winter fuel payments for pensioners — and, says Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, “it feels like a win already” to have got it onto the agenda.

The union had been battling behind the scenes to ensure its motion — which besides the winter fuel payment calls on Labour to drop the “fiscal rules” it has adopted from the Tories — got debated at all.

“It was really important we got this motion on the floor. They have to reverse the winter fuel payment cuts, they’ve got to do a U-turn. I don’t know how they can have made a decision to cut this while leaving the richest in our society untouched.

“The richest 50 families in Britain are worth £500 billion, and Labour decided to take money off pensioners rather than tax the richest? How is that decision made? Who makes that decision?”

It seems a vindication for Unite’s combative approach ahead of the conference, with the union publicly condemning the government’s economic choices.

“I said the first time I met Keir [Starmer], my job is to defend workers and communities and sometimes we are going to clash. If you are an important voice in the movement, then you’ve got to be able to say look, this is a misstep.

“The thing about these fiscal laws is that they are phoney — the fiscal rules have changed nine times since 1997. After the second world war, debt to GDP was way higher than it is now, and we built the NHS and built a better Britain for everyday working people.

“Now the situation is that after the financial crash, workers have paid the price through years of austerity, our public sector has paid the price, investment in our infrastructure and industries paid the price.

“So we don’t want to hear from them that everyday people should tighten their belts, prepare for a second round of austerity. That’s just not acceptable.

“The fiscal rules are like a noose around our neck. We need to invest, in business, in industry, in public services that have been absolutely decimated.

“There’s no other way to do it, you have to have money. It’s too long to wait for growth.

“So we need to do two things: one, we need to borrow to invest — and two, you have to have some type of wealth tax.”

Unite Investigates has published a string of research documents on corporate profiteering, the benefits of renationalising energy and other subjects, setting out costed alternative policies to those pursued by government. Its next big publication will look at different choices that could be made on tax.

“Unless we change [the fiscal rules] we are not going to be able to deliver what we want.”

Take a just transition away from fossil fuels: Graham points out that Germany has a £580 billion transition fund, 15 per cent of GDP.

“And we’ve got £7.3bn — it’s not going to touch the sides.

“If we’re talking about transition to renewables, that has to include jobs at the heart of it. You cannot throw these workers’ jobs onto the scrapheap.

“Example: take the auction for offshore wind projects. My question is, who’s building the turbines? We could be building them. But that’s going to take £1.1 billion for six years of investment, in order that we build wind manufacturing.

“And that would create 35,000 jobs. Proper, commensurate jobs that people in Scotland [currently employed in fossil fuel sectors] can take.”

Without breaking with the fiscal rules, investment in the future becomes impossible, she believes — stressing that Labour has “one shot” to deliver that change.

“We haven’t got the tribal politics of the past, people don’t vote like that any more, and the far right is waiting in the wings.

“People don’t just want better management, they want a vision of how things can be different.”

This applies to the NHS. Graham welcomes Labour’s settlement of pay claims this summer, that averted public-sector strikes.

“But it’s more than just the pay, it’s that the NHS has 100,000 vacancies.

“You can’t have scans without people. Resolving the staffing shortage is going to take money.”

Starmer has said there will be no additional money for the NHS without “reform,” with a plan for a “reimagined” NHS due next spring.

“There might be reforms that can be done to make the NHS better, that will be a conversation between the unions, but the bottom line is that there’s 100,000 staff vacancies, you can’t make the changes you need in the NHS without money.” The same applies to local government, where Unite is urging the government to write off debts which are crippling local authorities.

The money to tackle these problems, she insists, is available if Labour has the courage to tax the rich.

That takes us onto public ownership: Graham is incensed that at Grangemouth, “a billionaire owner, someone who buys a football club for a hobby, can just say ‘oh, I don’t fancy having a refinery any more.’

“Why can’t we be the investor of first resort? Why can’t we save those jobs, for example by making sustainable aviation fuel, good for the climate and good for jobs.”

When I ask how that ties into the wider cause of energy nationalisation, she points out that “it’s actually Labour’s policy to nationalise energy. I moved that motion last year!

“The privatisation project has failed, it’s put bills up, communities and workers are paying more.

“Look at water, the shareholders get loads of money and we get sewage in our waterways. Those projects have failed.

“You can’t renationalise  everything in one go, but there are steps to take. It starts with jobs, it starts with taking a public stake in important sectors — like steel.

“You need steel to build, you need it for defence, it’s a really important part of the economy. What’s so wrong with taking a stake in these things?”

Labour would be wrong to “take workers for granted,” she warns. People voted for change. If workers don’t get a better deal, Unite — a leading force in the strike wave of 2022-23 — is quite as prepared to strike under Labour as it was under the Tories.

“We’ve had 1,106 disputes since I was elected, we’ve spent £42 million on strike pay, and we’ve put over £500m back in workers’ pockets.

“That’s what the union is for. Those strikes have involved 280,000 Unite members.” Even as we speak Unite is involved in 190 disputes, she says.

Inflation may have reduced but prices are still going up, and workers shouldn’t be told to put up even with inflation-matching pay rises if the employer is making a huge amount of money in profit.

Graham is pleased we have a Labour government. But she points out the mood at conference, two months on from an election win after 14 years in opposition, is far from celebratory.

“There should be streamers, everyone should be in a buoyant mood, but instead there’s the talk of tightening belts, the mood music seems to be Austerity Mark II in some way, shape or form. And that is not going to be accepted.”

Will she win on the winter fuel vote today? 

“Well, what I’d say is this: if conference mirrors the country, we will win. Cutting the winter fuel allowance is wrong, and should be reversed — that is the position of the country.”