Jeremy Corbyn has condemned the Government's pay cap u-turn as "divide and rule", but stopped short of backing calls for illegal strikes.

In an upbeat speech at the TUC conference in Brighton that won huge applause, he said a Labour government would scrap the cap and give all public sector workers a pay rise.

"Seven years of Tory pay cuts have not only caused real hardship, they have damaged our public services by hitting recruitment, retention and morale," he told delegates in Brighton.

Claiming the Government's position seemed to change by the hour, he said: "At the weekend, we were led to believe the pay cap was a thing of the past.

"Yesterday, the Prime Minister's spokesman said it would 'continue as planned'.


'Real pay rise needed across the board'

"Today, as inflation rises to nearly 3%, they try to divide people on the cheap. The POA is right: a pay cut is a pay cut and we must be united in breaking the pay cap for all workers.

"The Labour Party totally rejects the Tories' attempt at divide and rule, to play one sector off against another. A Labour government will end the public sector pay cap and give all workers the pay rise they deserve and so desperately need."

But in a TV interview, the Labour leader sidestepped the question of whether he would back illegal strikes, saying how action was carried out was a matter for the unions.

"The issue is lifting the public sector pay cap," he said. "The issue is what the TUC have put forward, which is co-ordinated action to challenge the pay cap and also recognising inflation has now gone up to 2.9%.

"Many workers have already been hit very badly over the past seven years and are due to be hit even worse.

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"The TUC are co-ordinating that action. The issues of how it's done is a matter for the unions concerned."

Mr Corbyn's words were more measured than those of his shadow chancellor and closest ally, John McDonnell, who at a TUC fringe meeting said Labour would not only support industrial action in Parliament but also join strikers on the picket line.

In his speech, Mr Corbyn vowed to tackle insecurity at work, which he said undermined and held back low-waged workers and the better paid, and urged young people to join a union.

And in a joke at the Prime Minister's expense, he said: "In fact, insecurity now goes right to the very top of public life - just ask Theresa May."

Mr Corbyn also accused the PM of failing to stand up to employers such as Sports Direct and McDonald's, which have been targeted by unions for their treatment of staff pay and conditions.

Image: Mr McDonnell claimed Labour would support industrial action

"This escalating insecurity is not only bad for individual workers and their families...it is also bad for our economy and for our whole society," he said.

"This epidemic of low pay, which is closely tied up with insecurity at work, ruins people's lives, leaving workers and their families locked in poverty.

"It damages the economy, as people have less to spend. It costs us all, because it means more paid in tax credits and housing benefits from the public purse, and it means less tax being paid to fund public services."

Mr Corbyn said the pay gap at fast food chain McDonald's, where the boss earned 1,300 times more than the lowest-paid worker, was "symbolic of the deep inequality and injustice that scars our society".

"It's essential we work together as a movement, trade unions and the Labour Party as part of local communities, to stamp out low pay and insecurity," he said.

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On Brexit, after accusations of flip-flops and confusion over Labour policy, Mr Corbyn confirmed that he wants the UK to keep access to the single market.

"Labour respects the referendum result," he said.

"But we want a jobs-first Brexit, which guarantees full access to the European single market as part of a new trade agreement and relationship with the EU which maintains and develops workers' rights, and consumer and environmental protections and uses powers returned from Brussels to support a new industrial strategy."

He added: "When we leave the EU, the current free movement rules will end. Labour wants to see fair rules and management of migration, fair rules that put jobs, living standards and the economy first, not fake immigration targets, as the Tories do, that will never be met.

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"And we will continue to assert that the rights of EU nationals must be guaranteed."

Tory MPs claimed Mr Corbyn had failed to clear up confusion over Labour's policy on Brexit.

Backbench Conservative MP Rishi Sunak said: "The man that wants to lead the country won't tell us whether he supports being in or out of the single market - one of the most important issues facing the country to date.

"This is clear proof that Jeremy Corbyn and Labour cannot be trusted to make decisions on behalf of the UK and would bring the UK to a standstill."