UNIONS came together outside this year’s TUC to send a clear message — workers will not be divided by racism and hate.

Members of NEU, PCS, RMT, FBU, UCU, TSSA and BFAWU gathered outside the Brighton Centre ahead of today’s Congress.

They were joined by campaigners from Stand Up to Racism, Care4Calais and union general secretaries, including NEU’s Daniel Kebede and BFAWU’s Sarah Woolley. 

Ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to the congress, Mr Kebede said he wanted to send a clear message to Sir Keir Starmer by telling him not to echo the anti-migrant, anti-refugee rhetoric of that “City-boy spiv Nigel Farage.”

Mr Kebede told the crowd: “He needs to articulate a positive vision for Britain, that refugees are welcome here, that migrants make our NHS, that the diversity of Britain is what makes this a great place to live.

“He has to commit to investing in homes, in jobs, in services, because there have been pools of bitterness that have been allowed to fester in our communities up and down this country because of 40 years of neoliberalism in which we have seen the social fabric of our society chipped away.”  

Ms Woolley said: “We tell members involvement in fascist activities is fundamentally incompatible with membership in our organisation, and we urge any member who holds such views to either renounce their belief or leave our union because they are not welcome.”

Stand Up to Racism co-convener Weyman Bennett said: “The message of ‘stop the far right’ and ‘refugees welcome’ must be a thread running through TUC Congress.”