Paul Nowak of the TUC urges Labour to take on the ‘populist right’ and be bolder on tax, hiking levies on the wealthy to fund public services
The Labour Government has not yet done enough to change the lives of voters, Britain’s top trade union boss has warned as he called for higher taxes on wealth in the upcoming Budget.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said that the Labour promise of change “still feels like a slogan” to many working people as the Government endures a “difficult” period.
He urged Sir Keir Starmer to take on “the populist right”, insisting that the likes of Nigel Farage “are going to do nothing to improve people’s real, lived experience”.
Speaking to The i Paper ahead of the TUC’s annual gathering in Brighton next week, Nowak also defended his ally Angela Rayner – claiming she had been the victim of sexist attacks – and promised to hold ministers to account on their pledges to boost workers’ rights, including the “right to switch off”.
Nowak, who became general secretary of the umbrella body for trade unions in England and Wales nearly three years ago, was a trenchant critic of the last Conservative administration and warmly welcomed the arrival of Labour in power.
In a major intervention, he has laid out a range of tax measures targeted at businesses and wealthy individuals, which he believes will help boost public services and and rescue the Government’s political fortunes.
These include aligning capital gains tax rates with income tax rates, introducing a 2 per cent annual wealth tax on the assets of anyone worth more than £10m, imposing a “windfall tax” on bank profits, and raising taxes on online gambling.
Rachel Reeves has suggested she is opposed to wealth taxes, with some economists advising they can cramp economic growth. But a poll commissioned by the TUC suggests that two thirds of voters support the proposals – including three quarters of those who voted Labour in 2024 but now back Reform.
“It’s right, as we go into the Budget, for those with the broadest shoulders to be asked to pay a fairer share,” Nowak said. “From our point of view, there are two key things. One is it gives us much-needed cash to invest in our public services. But two, this is popular with the public as well… the Government needs to take its cue from the public mood.”
He insisted that, despite the political focus on immigration, the economy and cost of living remain central to Labour’s fortunes, and admitted the Government needs to be do more to show voters it is delivering for them.
‘Turn change into a reality’
Nowak said: “The onus and responsibility on the Government is to turn that change into a reality. For lots of people that still feels like a slogan – it doesn’t feel like their public services have got better, it doesn’t feel like the cost of living pressures have eased.”
He backed the No 10 shake-up this week, which is designed to create a sharper focus on the economy, saying: “It is no use boosting GDP unless people actually feel it in their pay packets and lived experience. Our members do not give a jot if GDP goes up two, three or four per cent – if their real living standards are being held down.”
Nowak added: “Let’s not gloss over it – it’s been a difficult 14 months for the Government.” He said ministers had “laid the foundations for rebuilding our economy” after inheriting a “toxic legacy”, and praised the new industrial strategy and the decision to intervene to save British Steel.
The union chief also urged the Government to take “a bit of heart from the polling we’ve done” on wealth taxes, and stand up to the “very loud lobby in the press and media predicting the ruin of the UK economy”, after measures such as adding VAT to private school fees and extending inheritance tax to farmland triggered a backlash when they were announced in last year’s Budget.
Rayner faces ‘misogynistic attacks’
The Deputy Prime Minister – the biggest trade union ally in the Cabinet – has been under fire over her personal financial affairs. On Wednesday, she admitted underpaying stamp duty when she bought a new home and has referred herself to the ministerial ethics adviser.
But Nowak backed her, calling for similar scrutiny on politicians of the right. He said: “The Deputy PM has made a mistake – she’s owned up to that and referred herself to the Government’s ethics adviser for investigation. That’s the right thing to do.
“But the outpouring of misogynistic attacks we’ve seen from the right-wing media and politicians are clearly more rooted in the fact she’s a working-class woman than the facts of the case. I look forward to the personal finances of leading shadow Cabinet members and Reform’s leadership being subject to as much scrutiny.”
He has worked closely with Rayner and other ministers on the Employment Rights Bill, now progressing through Parliament, and said he was “confident but not complacent” that it would reach the statute book intact.
Urging the Government to resist any attempts by the House of Lords to dilute new rights on the grounds they might harm employers, he added: “This stuff is overwhelmingly popular with the British public – including Reform voters and and Reform-curious voters.”
A right to switch off – which would ban employers from routinely contacting staff outside their working hours – will feature in the guidance issued to companies. Nowak said: “It’s not unreasonable to say, in a world where people are potentially on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, that a sensible limit is put on routine contact out of working hours.”
The TUC has previously protested against Donald Trump on his UK visits. Nowak did not say whether he would be joining an anti-Trump march this time around, but promised to use the upcoming state visit to put further pressure on Farage.
He told The i Paper: “Where was Farage’s outrage when Trump slapped arbitrary tariffs on UK industry that placed at risk thousands of UK jobs?
“So if Nigel Farage, you really stand up for working class people in this country, let’s see what his response to the Trump visit is.”
