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GREATER Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham called on the Labour Party to stop debating its internal differences and to unite when he spoke yesterday at a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the TUC founding in the city.
He said that campaigns for renationalisation offer important opportunities for labour movement unity.
Mr Burnham was speaking at Manchester’s Mechanics Institute, where trade unionists established the TUC on June 2 1868.
“In terms of social progress, the labour and trade union movement has been behind every stride forward that we have made — free education, health and safety at work, free healthcare, equal pay, the minimum wage,” he said.
“The lesson for all of us is that, when the Labour Party is united and walks in like step with the trade union movement and has strong public support, then we succeed.”
Mr Burnham, whose bid to lead Labour was defeated by Mr Corbyn nearly three years ago, went on: “A modern example is the railways. In the 2015 leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn and I both called for renationalisation and all shades of opinion in the Labour Party should get behind this issue with the trade union movement.
“We sometimes spend too much time debating our differences and not enough time on the things that unite us.”
Interviewed by the Morning Star, he said the TUC had been formed against a background of injustices — in particular, the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, in which sabre-wielding cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000 to 80,000 workers attending a mass meeting in Manchester calling for parliamentary reform.
At least 15 people were killed and 400 to 700 injured, some dying later of their wounds.
“Had that not happened, the trade union movement may not have been formed,” said Mr Burnham.
But he said injustices continue today, mentioning miners attacked by police at Orgreave, the framing of the Shrewsbury pickets and the blacklisting scandal.
“The point is that, when people know what has been done, you empower the next generation to fight for truth and justice,” he said. “It is about recommitting to that faith.”
