TUC Congress 2026 - Speech By General Secretary Paul Nowak

 

Paul Nowak, the TUC General Secretary, gave his keynote address to TUC Congress 2026 in Brighton this morning (14 September). The main points of his speech can be read below; along with the video of hims making his speech:

Celebrating union gains
He celebrated what he described as the "biggest increase since records began" in trade union membership, and pointed to a year of achievements: the Employment Rights Act as the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation, eight million workers getting sick pay from day one, and the repeal of anti-union legislation. He also listed the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, the nationalisation of British steel, railways returning to public ownership, and jobs in chemicals and ceramics being secured. Union membership itself was up by 192,000, he said.

Attack on Reform UK and Farage
This was one of the sharper parts of the speech. He mocked Nigel Farage as a self-proclaimed "workers' champion," asking pointedly who better to take on the establishment than "a privately educated ex-banker multi-millionaire," or to clean up politics than "the man who sips champagne and eats oysters while taking dodgy donations from foreign funders." He went further, declaring that Reform "do not, never have, and never will represent the interests of working people," and accused the party of being a "party for sale." He also drew a line connecting Farage, Rupert Lowe and Tommy Robinson to Donald Trump, MAGA and the US white supremacist movement.

Call for political funding reform
He argued there's no comparison between care workers contributing small union dues and a party funded by billionaires, and called for a "proper conversation" about cleaning up politics without marginalising workers while curbing the influence of the super-rich. He specifically named overseas donor Christopher Harborne, arguing "no representation without taxation," and called for transparency on political donations with no hiding behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Tether.

Message to Andy Burnham / the government
Nowak urged the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, to "face down vested interests" in pursuit of an economy that benefits everyone, warning that opponents of new workers' rights "only care about themselves and their bottom line," and pushed for Burnham to stand up to big banks, the super-rich and outsourcing giants.
He also spoke about insourcing outsourced public sector workers, citing an example at an NHS hospital and PCS's success in getting 2,000 Whitehall staff brought back in-house.

 

Source: TUC