Trade union members are increasingly turning to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK because the Labour government is not seen to be focused enough on the cost of living, the head of the Trades Union Congress has warned, as new polling suggests widespread hardship including meal-skipping and heating cutbacks.
Paul Nowak, the TUC’s general secretary, told The Independent that ministers should stop concentrating on weekly polling and internal politics and instead “focus relentlessly on the cost of living”, arguing that doing so would ultimately improve public support.
His intervention, ahead of his New Year message, comes alongside Survation polling commissioned by the TUC and campaign group 38 Degrees, which found that one in five adults (21 per cent) are skipping meals every day or most days because they cannot afford to eat or are making sacrifices for their children.
The same polling found that more than one in three (36 per cent) are cutting back on their heating every day or most days, while four in five (79 per cent) said their financial circumstances are either stagnant or getting worse.
Mr Nowak said the government’s priorities risk appearing detached from daily pressures on household budgets. “The government needs to focus relentlessly on the cost of living and then the polls will look after themselves,” he said. “Politicians are focussed on the minutiae of polls while ordinary people are focussed on the minutiae of their bank accounts.”
He welcomed a workers’ rights package passed shortly before Christmas, and said trade unions had helped push a “reluctant” Labour government into dropping the two-child benefit cap. But he said ministers needed to go further in 2026 to demonstrate the “change” promised in Labour’s manifesto.
Mr Nowak said some union members were being attracted to Reform in the belief that Mr Farage would address their economic concerns, describing that as a misunderstanding Labour needed to challenge while also delivering practical improvements to living standards.
“A lot of our [union] members vote Reform. But we should not be going around calling them racists though,” he said, arguing that Labour should focus on why voters are unhappy rather than simply condemning them.
Reform, led by Mr Farage, has sought to appeal beyond its traditional base with policy signals including support for nationalising steel production and water companies and calls to scrap the two-child benefit cap, a move Labour has now made. Mr Nowak said Labour should set out what he believes a Reform-led government would do in office, warning that recent workplace reforms would be at risk.
“A Farage led government would be a disaster for workers,” he said. He cited the prospect of “a return to austerity”, “privatization of our NHS”, and renewed pressure for deregulation in financial services, referencing Mr Farage’s “big economic reset speech” delivered in the City of London. He also pointed to the potential for further damaging relations with the European Union.
Alongside concerns about Reform’s appeal, Mr Nowak criticised what he described as Cabinet infighting and speculation about the prime minister’s position at a time when Labour is struggling in opinion polls and Sir Keir Starmer’s personal approval ratings are low.
“When a government is trailing so far behind in the polls and the PM’s personal approval ratings are low, there’s always going to be some sort of speculation,” he said. He added: “I think it’s incumbent on everybody, the prime minister, the cabinet, the Labour government, the entire parliamentary Labor Party, you can’t afford to take your eyes off the day job, which is delivering on living standards, and indulge in the sort of internal naval gaze here, who’s up and who’s down in the cabinet.”
He also framed the issue as one of immediacy for working households. “I think there are some people who who see politics as a game. I don’t think for our members, politics is a game,” he said, referring to choices between heating and food.
The comments also come amid renewed scrutiny of Labour’s relationship with the union movement. While trade unions remain Labour’s biggest donors, some are reassessing their links with the party. Unison, the largest union, has elected a new general secretary, Andrea Egan, who has argued for reducing support for Labour, while Unite has been discussing whether to disaffiliate.
Mr Nowak said unions should not act as “passive cheerleaders” for Labour. “Our job is to work with the government to deliver on the issues that really matter to our members and their families and their communities, to call the government out and they got it wrong,” he said.