LABOUR has been warned not to take trade unionists’ votes for granted amid reports Sir Keir Starmer will water down his commitments on workers’ rights.

TUC president Matt Wrack predicted “significant anger” and a “hostile reception” at the union federation’s annual conference in September if the party bows to pressure from business lobbying and rolls back measures in its New Deal for Workers.

“It is a policy that is necessary in terms of maintaining unity in the Labour Party,” he told the Guardian.