Labour should be bold on energy policy, union boss says

A senior union leader has urged Labour to be more bold to press home the “clear blue water” that now exists between the party and the Government.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham spoke to union members in Scotland while Labour’s annual conference was being held in Liverpool.

She said “trickle down” economics will fail, pointing to the huge profits made by energy firms.

“This is one area where bold Labour policies could exploit the ‘clear blue water’ that exists between the party and Government priorities.

“Figures exposing rampant profiteering, on their own, practically establish the need for the renationalisation of energy.

“A windfall tax might do something for a moment in time but in the long term, it’s clear that piecemeal action will not solve the scale of these problems.

“Sooner or later Labour will have to back taking the energy giants back into public ownership. Better sooner, because privatisation has ended in tears pretty much across the board.”

She also told Unite members at the meeting in Glasgow that the Chancellor’s lifting of the cap on bankers’ bonuses was a warning.

“Where did the no-limits culture for City bankers get us last time around? I’ll tell you where it got us to – the 2008 financial crash.

“We all know that the 10 years of austerity that followed forced workers to pay for a crisis created, not by them, but by the monumental corporate greed of Britain’s top bankers.”