Keir Starmer faces tussle with unions over pay rise demands for public sector workers

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Keir Starmer is facing a showdown with Britain's biggest unions demanding big pay rises for the public sector if Labor wins the next election.

Let's Unite and Unison will challenge the Labor leader's tough budget stance next week at a meeting of the party's national policy forum to present his plan for government.

Motions for Labor conference Nottingham, seen by The Independent, shows Unite will demand a commitment from Labor to “restore public sector pay levels which have been eroded by 13 years of cuts and freezes”. He also wants Labor to abolish independent pay review bodies, describing them as 'unsuitable for their purpose'. This would raise the prospect of repeated negotiations between Labor ministers and unions in a throwback to the 1960s and 1970s.

Unison is seeking a commitment that Labor will ensure wages “at least follow the pace of inflation', while the GMB wants a firm promise to reform the way public sector wages are set.

These demands should be backed by leftist unions, notably the Fire Brigade (FBU), the Communication Workers Union and Aslef, representing train drivers.

Although Mr Starmer will resist demands to guarantee a pay rise, the unions plan to take their case to the party's annual conference in October, where they and the constituency parties each hold 50% of the vote and stand a chance of inflicting a defeat on the leadership unless a compromise formula can be found agreed. The conference will approve Labor's political platform, but the final election manifesto will be decided by a joint meeting of the shadow cabinet and the party's National Executive Committee, in which Starmer's allies have the majority.

The Labor leadership wants the political forum to endorse a weaker commitment to “improving the standard of living of public service workers across parliament”. He warned the party that he would have to take tough decisions because of the economic legacy the Tories would leave.

Public sector salaries make up about a third of service spending, and shadow ministers Privately believe their immediate priority should be frontline services. Unions argue that recruitment and retention problems are hurting these services.

Mr. Starmer avoided supporting or criticizing Rishi Sunak's announcement that he would accept wage review bodies' recommendations for raises ranging from 5% to 7%. Labor MPs have not endorsed any of the recent strikes, content to urge ministers to return to the negotiating table. Now lead...