Union leaders have launched a series of blistering attacks on Boris Johnson as they demanded the ruling out of a no-deal Brexit.

The moderate head of the TUC, general secretary Frances O'Grady, said unions did not trust the prime minister and claimed he was ready to defy the law.

And the TUC president, left-winger Mark Serwotka, claimed Mr Johnson was "worse than Thatcher" and a "vicious, nasty, right-wing bigot".

Image: Frances O'Grady says no-deal would be a disaster for working people

The attacks came on the opening day of the TUC conference in Brighton as the unions backed a motion declaring "a no-deal Brexit must be taken off the table" and "the people must have their say on any deal with the option to Remain on the ballot paper".

Before the conference opened, Ms O'Grady said at a news conference that no-deal would be a disaster for working people.


"A no-deal Brexit means higher fuel prices and a more expensive weekly shop," she said.

"It would destroy good British jobs and mean less money for our NHS. A no-deal Brexit means medicine shortages for cancer patients."

She said the government's claim to be working with the EU to find a deal was a sham.

And attacking the PM personally, she said: "We know what kind of man Boris Johnson is and the people he gets to do his dirty work.

"That he's prepared to try every trick in the book. That he's torn up the rules and is ready to defy the law.

"And we don't trust him. He would sell livelihoods down the river because all he cares about is political power.

Image: The PM has been called 'vicious'

"So my advice to MPs is this: when you've got your opponent on the ropes, don't let them off. Hold your nerve until 31 October and call Boris Johnson's bluff."

Opening a conference debate on Brexit, Steve Turner of Unite said of Mr Johnson: "A man hell-bent on ditching convention and rewriting the rules, even destroying his own party, in pursuit of his ideological drive to take us out of the European Union on 31 October without a deal."

And in a call to arms, Mr Turner said: "Comrades, we won't win the coming election in the letters page of the Guardian or an FT editorial.

"We need to get down and dirty, talking honestly to our people in their voices and with a passion we haven't shown for far too long.

Image: Mr Serwotka appealed for loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn

"To win we need to inspire and motivate, give our reps, our members and friends the arguments and the confidence to take our message of hope and opportunity, of a new politics and fair economy into every workplace, onto every bus, down the pub, in our homes and across our communities.

"Comrades, we're entering the fight of our lives, there are few niceties and fewer rules.

"The team sheets published and it's game on."

In his presidential address to the conference, Mr Serwotka said: "Johnson's cabal of hard right, free market fanatics will try to wreak havoc on this country and cause untold damage.

"His cabinet includes a home secretary who believes that capital punishment should be brought back and another member who believes that women should be denied the right to an abortion even in the case of rape."

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Mr Serwotka also appealed for loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn and an end to "sniping" against his leadership.

"Now is the time for those who have been lukewarm to the Labour leadership to stop and think," he said.

"Do you want five years of Boris Johnson in hoc to his mate Trump? If not we need to unite behind Jeremy Corbyn to deliver a radical alternative based on an end to austerity."