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Labour members and supporters have spoken clearly.

We are back as the party standing up for working people, back as the party with humanity for refugees, and back as the party defending the welfare state we proudly created.

At the election the Conservatives claimed they were the party for hardworking people.

Today and tomorrow in the House of Commons they will demonstrate that claim to be false.

Today they are attacking working people with a Trade Union Bill that would make it harder for workers to get organised into a trade union and harder for union members to take strike action to defend their jobs, pay and pensions.

I know this to be the case from personal experience. One of my first jobs was as a trade union official chasing down employers in the garment industry.

There are many good employers out there, but even the best are improved by having a trade union to give the workforce a voice.

Britain already has the most restrictive trade union laws in western Europe, and senior Conservatives have likened this new legislation to something from a fascist dictatorship.

Heaping more and more legal restrictions on trade unions has meant the share of our national income going into workers’ pockets has got lower and lower over the last thirty years. Meanwhile the share going to corporate profits has gone up and up.

Tomorrow the Tories are trying to force through cuts to tax credits which Barnardo’s say could make a lone parent with two young children, working full-time on the minimum wage, £1,200 a year worse off.

The Tories are hitting working people with a double whammy – attacking the trade unions that defend jobs and win pay rises, and attacking the tax credits that provide a safety net for the millions of people stuck in low-paid jobs or without enough hours to make ends meet.

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The Government will argue that this is an unfortunate but necessary tough choice because of the deficit.

But at the same time the Government is giving tax breaks to the wealthiest 4% of people.

There is a choice – there is always a choice – and this Government is yet again making the wrong ones.

It shows why we need a strong Labour opposition, exposing the Tories’ bluster and boldly standing up for working families.

We are Labour. We are together. We are on your side.