The national secretary of the GMB union has warned that workers in energy and manufacturing must be put front and centre of decision-making over the net zero transition, and sounded the alarm over a “homogenisation” of MPs coming from an “increasingly narrow slither of society”.
But he also hit back at Reform MP Richard Tice’s claim GMB workers were “standing up against the madness of net zero”, saying the union’s priorities were about “making sure it delivers” for workers whose interests he claimed Tice did not represent.
Ahead of a meeting between more than 100 members of the Labour-affiliated union and MPs on Tuesday in Parliament, Andy Prendergast said it was “really important” workers in affected sectors, from energy to energy-intensive industries like steel, bricks, ceramics and glass, were involved in discussions that shape policy.
In an exclusive interview with LabourList, he said: “Very few MPs have got backgrounds in manufacturing, engineering, energy. We just feel it’s absolutely vital that when decisions are made about these hugely important, vital industries, that people working in them are actually put front and centre of that process.”
“There is a real concern when you look at Parliament of a degree of homogenisation. All of the figures show that very clearly.
“That’s one of the reasons why so many people react very well to someone like Angela. It’s actually nice to see someone talking about care who’s been a care worker. It’s nice to talk about someone who talks about benefits having been on benefits.
The reality of this country is 93% of people went to state school; a majority of people have to work out a necessity; they don’t live a million pound houses’ they don’t pay private school fees or have huge inheritance tax bills. The discourse is fundamentally twisted against us.
“What would be nice is if sometimes when we talk about energy, we talk about energy with energy workers, in Parliament; when we talk about care, we talked about care workers. Instead, we are finding there’s an increasingly narrow slither of society from where politicians come. While there are some great ones who really do a good job, I think we have to be concerned about that.”
The union has occasionally been at odds with Labour in the leadup to the election over its green agenda, sounding the alarm over job fears.
Steven McCue, a former British Gas engineer and now GMB convenor at the company, told LabourList that the introduction of hydrogen into Britain’s existing gas network could begin now to help save jobs, with industries like steel reliant on gas. “We have to be honest and say gas in going to stay in the pipes.”
But Prendergast added that the union was “quietly confident” about what the government’s agenda more broadly meant for the union’s priorities, with “very positive” positions in many areas.
“Where we are is a million miles forward on where we were simply a few months ago in the last administration. When you look at GB Energy, industrial strategy – we’ve got some really good stuff that frankly we’ve been crying out before for a very long time.
But he added: “There’s often a difference between the message being thought to have landed, and the actions that come off the back of it giving you the confidence that it genuinely has.
“Whether the funding and whether the breadth lacks the ambition we need to see – I think there is a question on that.”
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