New union leader warns Labour over Reform gains

Sharon Egan, a grassroots campaigner for more than 30 years, defeated the incumbent general secretary, Christina McAnea, in December last year.

She has described the union as having been a sleeping giant that was too subservient to the Labour leadership.

In her first interview with a national broadcaster, Egan said her members had a clear message for ministers. "I have been very frank with the government. When Labour came into power there was a sense of relief. But sadly we've been left wanting."

She added: "Communities are really struggling. They haven't delivered and my election demonstrated that members were desperate to have their voices heard."

"It isn't us that will hand the keys to No10 to Reform - it's them, unless they change course. And drastically."

"They've got to start introducing progressive policies. Investment in infrastructure, pay restoration, better services, insourcing. They need to ensure that they deliver on promises they made when they came into government."

She said her members had been "handing money over to the Labour Party and getting absolutely nothing in return."

Her union still pays more than £1m a year in affiliation fees to Labour. At a conference next year, members will vote on whether to cut those ties.

Egan, who was expelled from Labour for reposting messages from Socialist Appeal, a Marxist group now proscribed by the party, said she has only ever been a Labour member and that leaving was not her choice.

She said the 1,300 delegates at the conference in Brighton this week will discuss the relationship with the party but will not debate disaffiliation.

The union remains affiliated to Labour for now, and it will be up to members in each region to decide if that changes.

"But look at Reform's actions in last 12 months, these demonstrate they are not on side of workers," she said.

Egan welcomed the launch of Your Party last year by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana as an alternative to Labour on the left, though the party made little impact at May's local elections in England.

"Your Party offered people an opportunity to give Labour a warning that it needed to change. And I feel really sad that that warning is being delivered now by Reform," she said.

She said Labour had made mistakes that alienated some members who had looked forward to a new government two years ago. "It's not just about Labour not delivering, they were attacking our movement and our membership."

With a Labour leadership contest likely if Andy Burnham wins the Makerfield by-election this week, Egan said her message to the party would remain the same regardless of who leads it.

She described herself as a trans ally and said the union is considering legal action following the Supreme Court ruling on biological sex and the ensuing EHRC guidance.

She stressed that strikes must remain a last resort, but at the weekend she told local government workers to prepare for ballots if a 3.3% pay increase is not improved.

Egan would not disclose her salary but said it was considerably less than the rate for the job. She said she was donating the surplus to the union's industrial fund and a charity, and that when members' pay rises, so will hers.