TUC general secretary Paul Nowak backed an above-inflation pay award for education staff and Palestine solidarity in a speech at the National Education Union’s annual conference today.

He said: “[Education secretary] Gillian Keegan may think that Gaza is not the business of this conference but like on so many issues she is stone cold wrong.”

Delegates joined in his call for an immediate ceasefire and that a two-state solution was the only route to peace.

Praising the union for winning a 6.5 per cent pay award for its members last summer, he said their recent indicative ballot confirms they “deserve more … so that is why the NEU is right — alongside the other education unions — to call for a fully funded, above-inflation award for this year.”

Mr Nowak admitted that Labour was not “perfect” but hailed its promise for the “biggest expansion of workers’ rights and trade union rights in a generation.”

“When it comes to education, we need real change,” he said, calling for investment of at least 5 per cent of GDP.

He also warned that despite last summer’s wave of action, net membership had fallen by 200,000 in 2023, with fewer than half of public sector workers being members of one for the first time in history.

“The best way we can grow — the only way we can grow — is by being more diverse and more inclusive,” Mr Nowak said.

He recognised the challenges of disagreements between unions following the TUC fine handed to the NEU last year over it recruiting support staff, an area which is covered by the GMB, Unison and Unite.

Protesters held up a “Don’t turn your back on support staff, TUC” banners during his speech.