TRADE unions have hit back after Lord Peter Mandelson wrote in the Sunday Times today that Labour should “slow down” on boosting workers’ rights.

The Blair-era Cabinet minister said the new deal for workers — which Labour has pledged to implement within 100 days of winning office — “must not be rushed,” should be done in consultation with business and “should not go further than the settlement bequeathed by New Labour,” which infamously left Thatcher’s anti-union laws intact.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said that “Peter Mandelson earns his corn working as a consultant for private corporations. 

“His constant attacks on workers’ rights seem to be driven by his personal financial interests as well as his outdated desire to see Labour reduced to a 1990s neoliberal tribute act. 

“Only a resurgence in collective bargaining across all sectors will ensure that the economic pie is better divided.”

National Education Union leader Daniel Kebede said the article showed “the new deal will only be delivered if unions and their members fight for it.

“Waiting for milk and honey will deliver no milk or honey.”