TORY ministers must reinstate the financial support that provided training and education for employees, food workers demanded today.

Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) members, gathered in Staffordshire for their annual conference, backed a call for the return of the Union Learning Fund, which was abolished in England by then prime minister Boris Johnson in 2021.

The comparatively low-cost scheme, introduced by the New Labour government in 1998, helped hundreds of thousands of people in more than 700 workplaces before it was axed, according to the TUC.

The initiative, overseen by the union body and largely backed by employers, offered workplace access to literacy, language and maths classes as well as technology skills, apprenticeships and professional development.

BFAWU member Amanda Bailey told members in Stone: “Learning is a huge part of being in any union — how can you help someone if you haven’t got the right tools?”

She slammed Westminster for denying workers in England what those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can still benefit from.

Union executive committee member John Owens enthusiastically endorsed the call, blasting the move to scrap the fund as yet another attack on workers.