{"id":13300,"date":"2017-09-11T16:33:22","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T15:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13300"},"modified":"2017-09-12T12:07:12","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T11:07:12","slug":"abdication-of-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13300","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Abdication of responsibility\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Squabbling Tories have no Brexit plan and are risking catastrophe for Britain, Len McCluskey told TUC delegates yesterday (September 10).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Speaking at congress\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 annual conference<\/a> in Brighton, the Unite leader condemned the Conservative\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to put national interests in front of their own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His speech came after Unite freedom of information (FoI) requests to multiple government departments exposed the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lack of a strategy for the economy once the UK leaves the EU, with responses suggesting industry is being left to get on with it alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Divided, reckless government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Addressing congress, McCluskey said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a divided, reckless government, without plan or purpose beyond its own survival\u00c2\u00a0and is driving Britain and many of our key industries straight towards the precipice placing tens of thousands of jobs in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the real problem, colleagues, much of the Tory party just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all collateral damage as far as they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re concerned, on the highway to their low-wage, low-tax utopia, a second Singapore floating off Europe, undercutting wages and social protections.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McCluskey warned the country\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bcannot afford a Tory Brexit\u00e2\u20ac\u0165\u00c2\u00a0and told the unions gathered that\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bonly unremitting pressure from the labour movement is going to avert this catastrophe.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He reminded delegates that Theresa May\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s promises to protect workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights through the EU withdrawal bill<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which faces a vote on its second reading tonight (September 11) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c were as empty as her vows not to hold a general election<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTheresa May says it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not her intention to do that but calling an early general election wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t her intention either \u00e2\u20ac\u201c until it suited,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe regrets that decision now, and let me make it clear \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if she uses Brexit as a pretext to attack workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights, she will live to regret that too.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Opposing withdrawal bill <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

McCluskey said Unite supports Labour \u00e2\u20ac\u015bin opposing the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 EU withdrawal bill, which will give ministers powers to scrap workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights as and when the fancy takes them.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He also reiterated Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s support of Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan for a transition period once the Article 50 negotiations<\/a> have finished in March 2019, saying it would avoid \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcrashing out of the EU without a plan, by remaining within the single market for a short additional period\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lack of a Brexit<\/a> plan was thrown into stark relief, after research by Unite released to coincide with the TUC Brexit debate, revealed the government is failing to work with and direct key industries in overcoming the highly complex challenges involved in leaving the EU.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The union asked a series of FoI questions to four different government departments, concerning the following sectors: construction, food processing, agriculture, aerospace, chemicals, manufacturing, higher education and finance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Migrant workers <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

All of these sectors contain a significant number of European migrant workers. Unite asked \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwhat assessment or estimate has been made of how many non-UK workers are currently required?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwhat assessment or estimate has been made of how many non-UK workers will be required for the first five years after the UK exits the European Union?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

None of the departments were able to answer the questions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The department for business, energy & industrial strategy (BEIS) which is responsible for the aerospace, chemicals, construction and manufacturing sectors stated: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIndustry is best placed to estimate its future skills needs.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite also asked the department of BEIS and the treasury how many \u00e2\u20ac\u0098letters of assurance\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 relating to Brexit have been issued in the aerospace, automotive, chemicals and finance sectors. Both departments replied that they do not hold such information.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Commenting on the findings, McCluskey said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe idea that industry is best placed to estimate and tackle its future skills needs is not tenable. Business\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s priority is not the national interest but profits and shareholders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 return.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBrexit is the most complex political issue that the UK has had to contend with in the last 50 years. That is why the government must be providing direction and clarity on the sort of economy and country we seek to be. The present hands-off approach, however, is far from a plan; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an abdication of responsibility.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Squabbling Tories have no Brexit plan and are risking catastrophe for Britain, Len McCluskey told TUC delegates yesterday (September 10).   Speaking at congress\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 annual conference in Brighton, the Unite leader condemned the Conservative\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to put national interests in front of their own.   His speech came after Unite freedom of information (FoI) requests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[486,210,44,792],"wps_subtitle":"Brexit: no govt direction","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13310,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13300\/revisions\/13310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}