NEW Unison general secretary Andrea Egan has done a service to the entire labour movement. Barely a week in office, she has spelt out exactly what is wrong with the Starmer government, and what needs to change.

We make no apology for quoting her words, written for Tribune, extensively. First the crisis: “The first far-right government in our history is a very real prospect. Nigel Farage in power would be the biggest triumph for the enemies of the working class since his idol Margaret Thatcher took office… 

“It would be a global victory for a billionaire-backed ethnonationalist project represented by the administration of Donald Trump…for every worker, active trade unionist or anyone who wants to live in an open and democratic society, the political stakes of the coming months and years are potentially existential. We are staring down the barrel of a historically devastating offensive against our class.”

Then, the blame: “From witnessing the recent behaviour of Labour’s ruling faction, you wouldn’t know it. Spearheaded from Downing Street, this narrow Westminster grouping often gives the impression it would rather hand the country over to Farage and put the labour movement’s survival on the line than consider any change in policy direction or lose the slightest control over the party machine.”

Egan slams the “stitch-up” which blocked Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election, with the reasons offered “an insult to the intelligence.”

Then the warning: “Trade unions will not tolerate this self-destructive approach any longer. The costs are simply too high, and it is our members — our whole movement — who will pay the price. 

“Labour’s rotten internal culture is a significant cause of its failure to deliver for workers while in government, which in turn drives its historic unpopularity and lays the ground for the far right.

“Andy Burnham’s debarring is just the latest example. The treatment of Jeremy Corbyn, of MPs who voted against cuts to welfare and winter fuel, and of many ordinary members has followed the same playbook: punish anyone to your left, abandon your basic values, chip away at your core support base.”

Finally the solution: “I have urged Labour to defend those it was set up to represent… governing for the working class would offer Labour its best chance of seeing off Farage and winning the next general election.

“I speak for many of my colleagues across the trade union movement, and in chorus with a significant number of Labour MPs, when I say that we cannot allow those currently in charge of the party to take us down with them. 

“A radical change in direction… could not be more urgently needed. I am confident that a broad, pluralist coalition across our movement will now come together to ensure we see that change.”

It is a message that should be taken up by all trade union leaders and concerned Labour MPs, as well as activists throughout the movement. Former party chair Ian Lavery made the same point this week — the party created by Keir Hardie risks being killed by Keir Starmer.

One may only disagree with the Unison leader when she writes that the Prime Minister “cannot afford any more” mistakes.

He has made enough already, from the Gaza genocide to winter fuel benefits to capitulating to the Lords on workers’ rights to leaving the water industry in private hands. These are not mistakes, alas, they are a policy.

Nor can any change in Morgan McSweeney’s behaviour, driven only by hatred of socialism, be rationally expected.

The logic of Egan’s position is clear. Unions must urgently exert themselves to secure a change in Downing Street.