THE Tory government is attacking democracy on three fronts, leading left Labour MP Richard Burgon told a meeting of trade unionists in Yorkshire.

Mr Burgon was attending a celebration of the 135th anniversary of the founding of Huddersfield Trades Union Council in West Yorkshire on Saturday.

He said that electoral democracy was being attacked by regulations demanding voters produce identification documents, that the right to protest was being taken away through more regulations, and that introduction of minimum service levels during industrial action was an attack on the right to strike.

Mr Burgon, who is secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs in the Commons, said: “We need to fight back through the ballot box, through peaceful protest and through strike action.”

Speakers also included PCS national secretary Fran Heathcote, who said that 40 per cent of Civil Service staff who administer universal credit were being forced to claim the benefit themselves because of low wages.