Unison Boss Says Labour Shift To The Right On Immigration Is “A Huge Mistake”
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea joins ambulance workers on the picket line outside Longley Ambulance Station in Sheffield, January 2023 (Credit: PA Images / Alamy)
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Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, Britain’s largest union and one of Labour’s biggest affiliates, has said Labour shifting rightwards on immigration is a “huge mistake” as it will “just annoy” voters.
In an exclusive interview with The House magazine, McAnea criticised the Labour government, saying: “I understand why people are worried about the direction of travel because it's not working.”
She described the language used by Keir Starmer on immigration earlier this year – when he controversially talked about Britain becoming an “island of strangers” – as “absolutely shocking”. The PM later admitted that he regretted using that phrase.
“I was horrified by it. We've got a very clear policy of campaigning on migrant workers’ rights,” she said.
On immigration, she continued: “I would absolutely oppose any move from the Labour Party to shift to the right on this. It’s a huge mistake, and they'll just annoy and put off loads of voters. I don't know what they think they're offering by doing this.”
“I accept that you can't ignore it and walk away from it,” McAnea said, before adding: “People are voting Reform for a whole variety of reasons, one of which is immigration – but that's not the only reason. It's because they feel they've been let down. They don't feel that Labour has come in and made their lives better.”
Since McAnea’s comments were made, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced asylum reforms that some Labour MPs have criticised as “dehumanising” and “racist”.
Mahmood sought to face down critics on the left, telling the House of Commons on Monday: "I wish I had the privilege of walking around this country and not seeing the division that the issue of migration and the asylum system is creating across this country."
Unison leader McAnea is currently fighting off a challenge to her position from lay member Andrea Egan, who is highly critical of the Labour government. They are running against each other in a head-to-head race to be Unison general secretary, which will see voting among members end on 25 November before the result is announced on 17 December.
Speaking to The House, McAnea said it was “completely untrue” that she is too close to No 10, as alleged by her opponent, and argued that the Employment Rights Bill showed “being a critical friend to Labour can deliver for us as a union”.
“We're not a friendly union. What we are is not an unfriendly union but a critical friend to the Labour Party,” she said.
At Labour conference in September, McAnea championed a motion on Gaza that described Israel’s actions as a “genocide” and called on the Labour government to “do more”, including fully suspending its arms trade with Israel.
Asked if she had pushback from the Labour leadership in response, she replied: “Of course we did. But that wasn't the first time that we'd done it.
“We came out very strongly against the removal of winter fuel allowance; we've come out against what happened to Waspi [Women Against State Pension Inequality] women; we’ve come out very strongly against what was happening on disability benefits.”
The head of Unison also told The House she had “huge arguments” with Health Secretary Wes Streeting and NHS chief executive Sir James Mackey over wholly owned subsidiary companies – ‘subcos’ – created by NHS Trusts to deliver services. Staff who are transferred to work for them are no longer directly employed by the NHS.
“I went in to see Jim Mackey and Wes Streeting and had huge arguments with them, saying: ‘If you do this, we will fight you on every front. Every trust where you do this, we will have a campaign against you. We will ballot members with industrial action if we have to’.”
“A few days before Labour Party Conference, Wes Streeting announced that it was all put on hold because he’d listened to the unions, particularly Unison,” she added.
Unlike her opponent, who told The House she was personally enthusiastic about ‘Your Party’, the new left-wing party being started by former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, McAnea said the project had been “a bit farcical” so far.
“It almost feels to me that we're talking ourselves into a one-term Labour government,” she added. “We end up running the risk of a real shift to the right, with parties like Reform coalescing with either the Tories or a rump of the Tories to come in and take over.
“What I'd like to see is progressive parties getting together to make sure that doesn't happen, through whatever means possible.”
McAnea said she would support electoral pacts as well as progressive parties working together more broadly.
The full interview with Christina McAnea will be published in the next edition of The House magazine.
