LEFT MP Richard Burgon has called on workers and their unions to learn lessons from the 1984-5 miners’ strike against pit closures.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the TUC Yorkshire & Humber region of the TUC in Leeds on Saturday, he said: “Communities came together to fight for a better society.

“Women mobilised and formed Women Against Pit Closures. Lesbians and Gays formed LGBT Support the Miners.

“Asian shopkeepers helped with food kitchens.

“There was international support — the food convoys from the CGT union in France.”

The Leeds East MP also called for unity to defeat the Tories at the next general election.

He said: “So much is at stake. Research has shown that 300,000 people have died as a result of the government’s austerity policies. And there are £20 billion more cuts to come.
 

“People have had enough of their arrogance, running the political and economic system for the 1 per cent at the top.

“We must unite to get the Tories out and make the Labour government as transformative as possible — and trade unions have got a vital role to play in that.”

He said there were three ways to fight back against the Tories — by voting, by protesting and by striking — and warned that the government “has all three in their sights.”

Mr Burgon said that restricting voting to those producing identification documents was aimed at people not likely to vote Conservative — the working class, young, and ethnic minorities — and the Tories were attacking the right to protest and the right to strike too.

“The trade union movement has been at the forefront of winning these hard-won civil liberties,” he said.