THE leader of Britain’s biggest private-sector union has urged Sir Keir Starmer to confirm that a future Labour government would not embark on “another round of austerity.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said she wants guarantees from Labour that the party is not preparing to make “continued cuts to services and pay.”

Labour leader Sir Keir gave a speech in east London on Thursday in which he vowed to end “sticking-plaster politics” and said no “big government chequebook” would be required to fund his plans as prime minister.

With Labour 20 points ahead of PM Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives according to some polling, the party has been keen to stress that the public finances would be safe in its hands.

Sir Keir and other senior figures have regularly said that borrowing would only be used to fund long-term investment and not day-to-day spending.

But Ms Graham said she is concerned that Labour’s pronouncements on spending could be a “buzzword” for austerity and cuts to public services.

Unite has previously been Labour’s biggest financial backer, although relations have cooled slightly since left-wing stalwart Jeremy Corbyn quit as leader following the 2019 election.

Ms Graham said: “Right now our NHS is being deliberately run down and workers and communities are being lined up for another round of austerity.

“So I want to hear Labour make it abundantly clear that the choices it will make will not lead to austerity — that we will not be getting some new buzzword that amounts to continued cuts to services and pay.

“They cannot afford to tinker around the edges. We are a wealthy country and the money is there.

“We now need a government that is committed to making different choices.”

Sir Keir said that if Labour wins at the next election, which is due to take place before January 2025, it would “inherit a badly damaged economy.” 

He said: “We have to be absolutely clear that we can’t just spend our way out of that mess.

“There is no substitute for a robust, private sector, creating wealth in every community.”

Green MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas said: “Our country’s in crisis.

“Ending sticking-plaster politics is meaningless if he’s blind to big ideas: wealth tax, public services in public hands, basic income, voting reform — which could truly transform our country.”

A Momentum spokesman told the Star: “Instead of offering a solution for the huge crises of the 2020s, Keir Starmer offered up the New Labour playbook of the 1990s: public-private partnerships and limited state investment. But you can’t fix a nation on the cheap.

“Instead, Labour should be harnessing popular, pragmatic policies like public ownership, wealth taxes and a Green New Deal.

“If we want a better future, we have to invest in it. To truly end ‘sticking-plaster politics,’ Labour must transform this failed economic system.”