UNIONS will not accept any benefit cuts that plunge the most vulnerable further into poverty, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak told GMB Congress today.

Speaking before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her spending review, he told delegates in Brighton that ”if 2024 was a year of change, 2025 has to be a year of deliver, a year where the government makes good its promises to working people.”

He said the first of three priorities for the union federation this year was ”to make sure the government delivers its manifesto commitments that won it the election last year. 

”I want ministers to also think again on their current plans to reform social security,” Mr Nowak said. ”Nobody unable to work should be left out of pocket and nobody in work at the moment or looking for work should see their benefits cut to balance the nation's books.

”When it comes to social security, we cannot and will not accept the most vulnerable being plunged further into poverty.”

Mr Nowak also backed the government sanctioning two Israeli ministers over “egregious abuses” of human rights in Gaza, as the decision was criticised by the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The union leader told of witnessing ”first hand the appalling situation facing the Palestinian people in the West Bank” in a trip to the region in April.

He added: ”I applaud our government for suspending trade talks with Israel and sanctioning extremists in Netanyahu’s government, but it must go further and immediately recognise the state of Palestine — that’s how you begin to go down the road to a genuine two-state solution.”

The TUC will also prioritise cutting industrial energy costs and tackling the rise of the far right.