TENSIONS over whether unions can effectively fight racism if seen to be too close to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party were aired in a Q&A with trade union leaders today.

The mainly black audience raised questions over Labour authoritarianism, support for Israel’s war against the Palestinians and a recent uptick in anti-immigrant rhetoric.

GMB member Ali Haydor said it felt as if unions were “cherry-picking when to fight, when not to fight” and asked for consistency.

Aslef’s San Senik said that a speaker had condemned the Tories for being bedfellows with Nigel Farage, but pointed out that last Wednesday Mr Starmer had been “smiling and happily chatting away” with the Reform UK leader.

“Right now Labour does not feel representative of the working class, of the left or of the minorities.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said unions should not defend everything Labour did, but the alternatives to the current government were Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage.

He stressed that the new deal for workers would unite workplaces by improving workers’ rights across the board — though in a later session, journalist Taj Ali pointed out that Labour had backtracked on promises of a single status of worker which would have improved terms for disproportionately black workers in bogus self-employment.

National Education Union leader Daniel Kebede said his union would work with Labour where it could, but oppose it where it had to, including on its attacks on refugees, while NASUWT’s Patrick Roach said unions must be ready to make Sir Keir uncomfortable.

But a telling sign was the applause that met a simple statement of fact from probation union Napo’s Ian Lawrence, when he said his union was not a Labour affiliate.