The leader of Britain’s trade unions has urged Labour to fight Reform UK by hitting millionaires, banks and gambling with higher taxes.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, has published an opinion poll of 5,000 adults.
He says the results suggest a significant number of Labour voters are leaning to Reform.
His call comes ahead of the TUC’s annual conference starting in Brighton this weekend, when the high-tax policy is expected to be overwhelmingly approved.
“I’ve seen first-hand the experience of the wealth tax, the solidarity tax in Spain and it raised billions of euros,” Mr Nowak said in a pre-conference interview with Sky News.
“It didn’t lead to an exodus of millionaires or wealthy people from Spain and Spain now has one of the fastest growing economies in the OECD. So I think it’s a good example of a wealth tax in action.
“But it’s not the only option the government has. They could equalise capital gains tax with income tax.
“They could have a windfall tax on the banks and the financial institutions who have got record profits.
“And they could tax the gambling industry much more fairly.”
He continued: “The big four banks between them had profits of nearly £46bn last year alone, mainly because we’re in a high interest rates environment.
“Under the previous Conservative government, when the energy companies had huge windfall profits, they moved to a windfall tax, extended by Labour.
“We think they should take a similar approach in banking and other sectors where we may see those windfall profits.”
Labour voters ‘leaning to Reform’
The debate over a wealth tax was triggered by a call by former Labour leader Lord Kinnock, in an interview on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News on 6 July, for a 2% levy on people with assets of more than £10m.
Weeks later, it was backed by Labour’s former shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, on Sky News political editor Beth Rigby‘s Electoral Dysfunction podcast, but rejected by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Ms Reeves will deliver the budget on 26 November.
On the TUC’s poll, carried out on 15-19 August, Mr Nowak said 74% of 2024 Labour voters who are now “leaning to Reform” backed wealth, gambling, and bank taxes.
This was also true for 84% of 2024 Conservative to Labour switchers.
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‘A clear dividing line’
“We polled the public on a 2% wealth tax on those with assets of more than £10m,” Mr Nowak said. “Most people would recognise, if you’ve got £10m in assets, you could probably afford to pay a little bit more in tax.
“This is a clear dividing line between the government and Reform, showing you are on the side of working people.
“We know some [union] members voted for Reform at the last general election and clearly Reform was the biggest party at the local elections and union members would have been among those who cast their vote for Reform.
“My job isn’t to tell trade union members which way they should vote or not. What we want to do is expose the gap between what Nigel Farage says and what he does.
“He says he stands up for working people and then votes against rights for millions of working people when it’s introduced in parliament.
“He says he stands up for British industry and supports Donald Trump and his destructive tariffs. And he talks about tax cuts for the rich when we know that we need those with the broader shoulders to pay their fair share.”
