Ed Miliband To Claim Tories Are Out Of Touch At Unite Conference

Out Of Touch?

The Conservatives are out of touch because they are listening to those with power and influence and not working people, Labour's leader will say on Thursday.

Ed Miliband will tell the national conference of the Unite union there was "no place at the table" for decent hard-working families.

He will contrast the way Labour and trade unions are reconnecting with people in workplaces and communities with the "out of touch" coalition.

Out of touch? Ed Miliband accused the Conservative party of 'listening to the wrong people'

"Why are the Tories so out of touch? Because they are listening to the wrong people. They are listening to those who already have power and influence and not to the working people of this country.

"They have cosy kitchen suppers for the privileged. Cosy country suppers for the powerful, but there is no place at the table for decent hard-working families."

Mr Miliband will attack the Government for "doing nothing" to help hundreds of workers at the Coryton oil refinery in Essex

set to lose their jobs because of the site's closure.

"Turning away where governments in other countries would have stepped in. Six hundred jobs gone because the Government didn't listen to working people, because it wouldn't even ask the European Commission whether there was something it could do, because this Government thinks the role of government is to sit back and do as little as possible."

Mr Miliband will tell the Brighton conference that unions have a "vital role" to help Britain to rebuild, citing how Unite worked to safeguard the future of Vauxhall's factory in Ellesmere Port.

The Labour leader will urge trade unions to help Labour fight abuses of minimum wage laws, saying that too many people were still not paid the statutory rate.

"Only seven companies have ever been prosecuted for not paying it. Is there anyone here who believes that only seven have broken the law?

"As we campaign for better wages for hard-working people, we need also to think about our labour market. About how it has become possible for some to be paid so poorly. Some recruitment agencies in this country specialise in employing migrant labour from Eastern Europe and effectively close their books to workers from Britain, so that they can bring in workers who are unorganised and unprotected. I want us to come together to fight exploitation and discrimination - of local workers as much as migrant workers - so we get decent labour standards in this country."

Labour came under attack from delegates earlier this week when the party was accused of losing touch with its core supporters.

Unite leader Len McCluskey said there was a lot of "frustration and anger" over the previous Labour governments, especially over the refusal to repeal "anti union" laws.

He said that unless Mr Miliband offered a "radical" alternative to the coalition's policies, Labour would not win the next election.

Asked how delegates will respond to the Labour leader, Mr McCluskey said: "I hope he will get a very good reception."

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