UNISON’s voice is at the heart of government

UNISON hosted a post-election reception at Parliament last week (Wednesday) to welcome new and returning MPs with links to the union.

The event saw a host of MPs attend, including eight recent UNISON staff and activists who had been newly elected as MPs, the newly appointed deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and the secretary of state for health and social care, Wes Streeting.

Liz Twist, chair of the UNISON group of MPs, welcomed attendees, saying she was “delighted to welcome everyone here with a Labour government in power”.

Christina McAnea welcomes attendees. Photo: Jess Hurd

Introducing UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea, she said the party is ready to work with UNISON on policies for public services and on the New Deal for Working People.

Christina continued the speeches, saying: “I’m so excited to be here, this is like a dream come true, the thought of being general secretary while we have a Labour government is just amazing.

“I want to thank everyone who has been involved in the election campaigns – our staff, activists and members, and I particularly want to thank our Labour Link committee and its chair, Linda Hobson.”

Speaking of the formation of the new government she said: “One of the most exciting moments for me was the next morning, watching the TV, bleary eyed, and seeing Angie (Angela Rayner) walk into Downing Street and I thought, ‘yes, yes we’ve done it’.

“I can’t tell you how excited I felt to think that Angie Rayner, who I’ve known for many years, is now the deputy prime minister of this country.”

Introducing Ms Rayner, Christina said: “I can’t tell you how many times I go to UNISON events and people talk about you, because you are the inspiration for so many people – and particularly women – in unions.”

The deputy prime minister then spoke and, referencing Labour’s manifesto commitment to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote, she said: “I remember bouncing into my first UNISON young members weekend, where I demanded votes at 16 – isn’t that funny?

“I wasn’t told to stay in my lane, I wasn’t told I was talking too much, I wasn’t told that my opinion didn’t count. UNISON was the place for me where your opinion did count, where respect was given to people and was expected to be given to others.

“UNISON gave me an absolute warm cuddle, they looked after me, guided me and that’s why I call UNISON my family and my home, and without them I wouldn’t be able to stand in front of you today as your deputy prime minister.

“One thing UNISON taught me is that it’s not about yourself, it’s about ‘us’. It’s about who you’re there [in parliament] for. You’re there to fight for the people you represent, to fight for your constituents. Everything I’ve achieved has been an endeavour for ‘us’, for our people, for the people who have elected us.

“I’m incredibly proud that the Labour government will deliver a new deal for working people. We will fix our economy so we can pay for public services. We will respect our fantastic staff that work in our public services. We will make sure that working people get a better deal than they have had. And the reason why we’ll do it is that we’ve all had skin in the game.”

“UNISON is a great union and I’ll always have it in my heart. I always say ‘I was born in Stockport and raised in the movement’ and I know what a force for good it is. I know sometimes it’s tough, sometimes it’s difficult, but it’s never as hard when you know you’re going to make a real difference.

“You [UNISON] are in government with us, I know you’ve got my back, we’re going to smash it and we’re going to change Britain for the better.”

After Ms Rayner, Wes Streeting, secretary of state for health and social care also spoke. He said: “This afternoon I was in the department with Stephen Kinnock (minister of state for social care) and Karin Smyth (minister of state for health).

Secretary of state for health and social care Wes Streeting speaks of his first days in  government. Photo: Jess Hurd

“We were doing a walk around to meet officials and learning a bit about different teams and what they do, and it was a chance for people to ask questions. One of the questions we were asked was, ‘how are you going to make sure that you speak up for the interests of parts of the workforce in health and social care that don’t always manage to grab the microphone or the headlines?’.

“And it was a really easy answer for me because I said, ‘in myself, in Steve and in Karin, you’ve got three UNISON MPs and those [people who don’t grab headlines] are our people’.”

He continued: “UNISON’s voice is now right at the heart of government and right at the heart of the department which will deliver for UNISON members.

“And the truth is, we would not all be here today, and we would not be in government without the political leadership that UNISON has shown, year in year out, from that awful defeat in 2019.

“In UNISON we have an outstanding general secretary, and we’re going to be working really closely together and if ever we steer off track she’s going to keep our feet firmly on the ground.

“But enjoy this moment, there’s a lot of hard work to come and we’re going to do some incredible things, thank you for slogging your guts out to get here and together we’re going to change our country for good.”

The article UNISON’s voice is at the heart of government first appeared on the UNISON National site.