RMT president George Welch opened the transport union’s AGM yesterday with a direct call to “end outsourcing — permanently and decisively.”

He warned that the hated practice “fragments workforces, drives down pay and conditions, and allows employers to shrug off responsibility.”

In front of delegates in Glasgow, Mr Welch praised the effort of members to put public ownership “back on the agenda — not because it was gifted to us, but because we made it impossible to ignore.”

Mr Welch stressed to delegates that the union’s role is not to merely celebrate history, but to fight for the future.

“We are not a museum of past victories,” he said, “but a living, fighting force that learns from our history and leads from the front.

“The strength of our union has always come from a clear, unwavering mission: to secure the complete organisation of all workers employed by any board, company or authority in connection with rail, sea and other transport and ancillary undertakings and offshore and energy.”

Looking ahead to the prospects for the far right gaining popularity, the RMT president added: “We must challenge the poisonous narrative of division.

“We know what the right says about immigration. But we also know the truth: our industries depend on the contributions of workers from every background.

“It’s not division that keeps this country moving — it’s unity. Shoulder to shoulder, job by job.”