Labour conference: Watch live as Andy Burnham issues stark warning on future of NHS

Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson here…

In an impassioned start to conference, TUC chief Paul Nowak has told attendees that UK workers must be educated on Reform’s programme of austerity – which he said would make former Tory Chancellor George Osborne look like a “big state socialist”.

In a Hope Not Hate panel on how to battle the Far Right, the TUC general secretary said that conversations on battling right-wing parties – such as Reform – must meet people where they are.

This means, for instance, informing them that Nigel Farage wants to scrap employment rights laws, which would directly impact them.

Mr Nowak tells the packed out room: “Those people who voted Reform in the last set of local elections and in elections in Wales and Scotland would have included large numbers of union members, and it is not my job to tell union members you voted the wrong way, or somehow you are racist or reactionary or thick because you voted for Reform.

“We’ve got to engage our members where they’re starting from, and that to me means actually talk to them about the issues that matter to them…What matters in your community? For us in workplaces, it’s talking to members about employment rights and decent rights at work…

“And sometimes these are difficult conversations, and we don’t start them off by saying: ‘Let’s have a conversation about tackling the far right.’ We have a conversation about the Employment Rights Act and what difference it will make. Oh, and by the way, Nigel Farage voted against the Employment Rights Act time and time again in the House of Commons.

“And by the way, his mate Donald Trump is slapping on tariffs on British jobs that have cost thousands of jobs in this country. And by the way, their programme of austerity would make George Osborne look like a big state socialist family, and what that would mean for our public services.”

He gets a hearty applause from the room when he finishes his speech.