Jeremy Corbyn commits Labour to repealing ‘vicious’ trade union laws Jeremy Corbyn has committed himself to repealing “vicious” trade union legislation as a top priority for an incoming Labour government […]

Jeremy Corbyn has committed himself to repealing “vicious” trade union legislation as a top priority for an incoming Labour government as he began to set out the party’s general election stall.

He put the restoration of union rights at the heart of the Labour campaign, arguing that strength in numbers was crucial to help ordinary people to “stand up to the rich and powerful few”.

“You are our DNA, you are our family” The i newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription. Jeremy Corbyn on trade unions

In the face of dire opinion poll ratings, he repeated his insistence that he was fighting to win and would offer an “economic and political alternative” to the Conservatives.

The Labour leader, delivering a passionately pro-union message, said he wanted to restore collective bargaining in sectors of industry.

And he promised to set up inquiries into blacklisting of left-wing workers and clashes between police and striking miners in the 1984 ‘Battle of Orgreave’.

Mr Corbyn told the Scottish TUC: “You are our DNA, you are our family, and we will never, ever apologise for the closeness of our relationship with you.”

He said: “That is why one of the very first things we will do when forming our Labour government will be to repeal the vicious Tory Trade Union Act. Giving people the rights to collectively organise and make their lives better, safer and more content.”

Threshold in strike ballots

The legislation, introduced by David Cameron’s government, imposed a threshold for workers voting in strike ballots for action to be legal.

It also requires strikers to give employers 14 days’ notice before industrial action, rather than seven.

Mr Corbyn repeated his pledge to ban zero-hours contracts and to stop the payment of any public money to companies which do not recognise unions or do not pay full tax.

He also said he would scrap the planned one per cent cap for the next three years on pay rises in the public sector.

The Labour leader vowed to “fight for every seat in every corner of these isles” as he dismissed calls for a “progressive alliance” to be formed between his party and the SNP with the aim of denying a majority to Theresa May.

UK ‘becoming more unjust’

Mr Corbyn said: “The only real progressive alliance is the Labour and trade union movement working together as it’s always been and, so far as I’m concerned, always will be.

“That’s why Labour is campaigning to win in every seat across the whole country. The deal we will do with the electorate is to be the government for the many, not the few.”

He claimed that Britain was becoming more unjust, more unfair and more unequal under the Tories, with health inequality and increasing numbers of children living in poverty.

The Liberal Democrats accused Mr Corbyn of “plucking policies out of thin air without any thought of how they will work in the real world or how we pay for them”.