KEIR Starmer has pledged to raise the minimum wage and give workers greater protections from "day one" under a Labour government.

The Labour leader was speaking to the TUC this morning when he said his party would raise the minimum wage to £10 per hour, and improve sick pay.

Currently, anyone over the age of 23 is entitled to £8.91 per hour, but under a Labour government this would change, Mr Starmer said.

He also set out his vision for improving workers rights, saying that employees should have protections from their first day in the job.

In the online address, the Leader of the Opposition also referenced his personal experience as the son of a toolmaker, telling delegates: "When I think about a new deal for workers I think of my Dad. He worked on the factory floor all his life...Going to work at 8 in the morning, home for tea at 5, back to work 6 till 10 o’clock at night, 5 days a week.

"He did that to provide for our family.

"So the starting point is a job to raise a family on. That means a real living wage."

He added: “A job you can raise a family on must offer a solid foundation on which you can build your life, not worrying about how many hours you’ll be given the next week or how you’ll pay the bills if you fall ill.

“Labour’s new deal will provide that security by ensuring basic rights for all workers from day one in the job: including holiday pay; protection from unfair dismissal; and guaranteed sick pay.

“We have one of the lowest rates of sick pay in Europe. That’s not good enough, so as well as guaranteeing sick pay, Labour’s new deal will increase it as well.”

The Herald:

In the address, Mr Starmer attacked Boris Johnson’s decision to increase national insurance, saying the Tories were “raising taxes on working families” as he appealed to voters who switched from Labour to the Tories in 2019.

He acknowledged the “uncomfortable truth” that in the face of Mr Johnson’s landslide majority it was difficult to force changes in Government policy from the Opposition benches.

There were no details of the rate Sir Keir would like to see sick pay increase to, with Labour saying the party would “consult widely” on the appropriate level.

Labour would ban zero hours contracts and increase access to parental leave, the MP said. 

It would also outlaw “fire and hire” – the practice of sacking employees and then taking them back on worse terms.

The TUC address comes as Mr Starmer faces pressure to spell out how Labour would fund the £12 billion-a-year increase in health and social care spending announced last week by the Government.

While the party supports the increase in investment, it has condemned the Government’s plan to pay for it through an increase in national insurance contributions – but has yet to set out firm alternatives.

READ MORE: MPs vote through plans to raise taxes

Sir Keir said Mr Johnson’s party is “raising taxes on working families” but “Labour is the party of working people” and emphasised the need for Labour to be in power in order to achieve his aims.

“The uncomfortable truth is that until we have a Labour government, our demands for change will be frustrated,” he said.

In a plea for unity across the Labour movement, he said: “We have an obligation to unite and work together.

“If we do we can take on this right-wing Government, win the next general election, and deliver the transformational change working people so desperately need.”

READ MORE: Scottish Government would earn £50m from Boris Johnson's national insurance rise

In a sign that relations between Sir Keir and Unite, the party’s biggest donor, remained difficult, the union’s general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite is now focused on defending our members’ jobs, pay and conditions.

“This is the only way we can make sure workers do not pay the price for this pandemic. This is happening now. Labour needs to do the same.”

Labour is thought to be making around 80 voluntary redundancies as the party tightens its belt.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady welcomed Sir Keir’s commitment to increase sick pay.

She said: “Keir today promised that the next Labour government will increase statutory sick pay and make sure everyone has access to it – including the lowest-paid workers.

“During the pandemic, too many couldn’t afford to self-isolate because sick pay is too low or they aren’t eligible for it at all. This badly undermined our public health effort during Covid.”