TRADE unions have lined up to pillory “Thatcherite” Nigel Farage’s plea for them to affiliate with his anti-worker outfit “bankrolled by corporate interests and crypto billionaires.”

Mr Farage, who last year led his Reform colleagues into voting against the Employment Rights Act, the biggest extension of workers’ rights in a generation, took to his one-time pal Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, on Tuesday in a bid to woo union support.

Referring to recent polling, which suggested a collapse in Labour support and growth in support for Reform among trade unionists, he offered a “welcome” to trade unions if they wanted to affiliate, before offering a “personal invitation” to union leaders to attend its forthcoming conference with a claim that “we are on the side of working people.”

Unimpressed, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Reform are no friends of working people. 

“If they were, they wouldn’t be planning to rip up workers’ rights like day-one sick pay and protection from fire and rehire and zero-hours contracts. 

“And they wouldn’t have a leader who backs privatising the NHS. 

“Reform can cosplay as champions of workers all they like. But the reality is they’re bankrolled by corporate interests and crypto billionaires who want the rules rigged even further in favour of the rich and powerful, not working people. 

“Reform will say whatever they think it takes to win votes. But their record — and their agenda — tells the real story.” 

Community assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid branded Farage’s advances “farcical,” and warned Reform would “launch even worse attacks on workers’ rights than Thatcher,” while TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: “Union members will not be conned by this ridiculous and desperate gimmick from Farage.”

Calling him “an enemy of trade unions,” FBU general secretary Steve Wright made clear: “As a former Tory Party member in the 1980s, Farage was a cheerleader for Thatcher’s war on the miners and the biggest onslaught on trade unions since the second world war.”

In a pointed message to Labour, he added: “A failure to properly listen to working people has opened the door to the nightmare of a ‘far-right’ government led by Farage coming to power.

“The Labour government must urgently change course, by introducing a wealth tax to properly fund public services, pensions and increase pay for all workers.”