TUC general secretary Paul Nowak will call on unions to “roll up our sleeves and get involved” in creating a new economic settlement today.

The TUC leader will use his keynote address to the first TUC in 15 years held under a Labour government to argue that “Keir Starmer and this government have the interests of working people at heart in a way the Conservatives never did, and never will.”

Unions cannot expect Labour to undo 14 years of Tory damage overnight, he is set to stress, but can take a proactive role in “rebuilding our public services … recasting Britain’s industrial future … [and to] face down those on the right who wish to sow division and discord.”

At a press conference ahead of Congress yesterday Mr Nowak said the new deal for workers, which unions would insist on being implemented in full, would  “turn a page on the Conservatives’ toxic legacy and … make work pay for everyone.”

He acknowledged concerns over the decision to means-test winter fuel payments, saying Chancellor Rachel Reeves would need to set out what support she would put in place for pensioners next month.

“The Prime Minister said last week he expected those with the broadest shoulders to do the heaviest lifting, and I expect to see that play out in the Budget.”

Asked by the Morning Star if the decision to suspend the whip from seven MPs for voting to lift the two-child benefit cap, a position most trade unions support, would make MPs too fearful to stand up for union policy in Parliament in future, Mr Nowak said it was important to acknowledge unions had a “shared starting point with the government.”

“I’m not going to advise the Labour Party on how to run a whipping operation or manage the politics of the parliamentary party. 

“None of us want to be in a position where pensioners are struggling going into the winter, none of us want kids in poverty because their parents don’t have access to adequate support.”

But with 70 per cent of children in poverty having a parent in work, the government’s broader agenda of making work pay through the new deal for workers should also be seen as a weapon against child poverty, he insisted.