Labour under Andy Burnham given 'second hearing', union boss Sharon Graham says

Labour under Andy Burnham given 'second hearing', union boss Sharon Graham says EXCLUSIVE: Unite general secretary Sharon Graham - one of Labour's most powerful union backers - tells The Mirror the Budget must end freeze on income tax thresholds Labour is being given a "second hearing" under Andy Burnham, according to one of the party's most powerful union backers. General Secretary of Unite union, Sharon Graham, told The Mirror the party now had a shot at leaving a legacy similar to the transformational post-war 1945 Labour government. In an interview she also called on the Prime Minister and Chancellor John Healey to use October's crunch Budget to help struggling families and end the freeze on income tax thresholds. The leader of the country's second biggest union said it would show workers and pensioners hit by the ‘stealth tax’ that the government is on their side. And the union chief reiterated her call for a wealth tax on the super-rich and a levy on the bumper profits of banks. Ms Graham - a frequent critic of Keir Starmer's government - said: "I do think there is an absolute chance - I haven't said this for a long time - but I do think there is a chance that Labour could get this right. "But they also could absolutely get it wrong if they get caught by the 'computer says no brigade'". Ms Graham said she had no doubts that Unite - which slashed £580,000 in funding to the Labour party earlier this year - would have voted to cut ties with the party without a change in direction. She said: "I have to say that had it continued in the way that it was, I have no doubt in my mind that we would have that our members would have asked us to disaffiliate. No doubt in my mind at all. It was absolutely there and it was real. "What I think now is that Labour have been given a second hearing. I definitely think they've been given a second hearing, and that's why I say they get one shot. "But if they get it right, it could almost be a 1945 NHS moment." "If they do it right it could be a legacy that could last, if they do it right. We're talking about, you know, a long-term vision for Britain. We're in a fourth industrial revolution - we led the first, we're nowhere in the fourth let me tell you. "If we do it right we could have the jobs of the future, we could reindustrialise where these communities have been just left abandoned, quite frankly. "To get there will take trust and people to believe, and on the way to that, you have to show why that trust is warranted. And that means you're going to have to take some of the burden off everyday people in the short term as well. "That will give him the trust for the long term. I suppose the ball's in his court, is what I'd say." On the eve of the TUC's annual gathering of the union movement in Brighton this weekend, Ms Graham urged the government to end the freeze on income tax thresholds. The £12,570 tax-free personal allowance threshold was first frozen by the Tories in 2021 and it was announced at last year's Budget it would continue until the end of the decade. The policy results in more and more people being dragged into paying income tax as earnings increase. Unite argues workers would be able to enjoy around £3,500 extra tax free of their earnings if the threshold had risen with inflation since 2021. Some nurses and teachers are also being dragged into paying the 40% tax band, with the higher threshold also froze at £50,270. Ms Graham said: "I see it as a stealth tax. I see it as completely unfair. I see it as an attack on workers. It is completely and utterly unfair." The day before entering Downing Street, Mr Burnham said he had heard the "frustration about personal allowance" on the campaign trail in the Makerfield by-election and was "lodged in my mind". He later dismissed the prospect of any immediate changes to the income tax threshold freeze, saying: "There is no commitment at this point to change, but we will look at that at the Budget." Experts estimate unfreezing the threshold could cost up to £8billion-per-year. But Ms Graham highlighted Unite's campaign to introduce a wealth tax on the super-rich. The union has previously said a one-off 1% emergency wealth tax on the assets of the super-rich could raise £25bn. The union chief added equalising capital gains tax with income tax - something the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has also highlighted - could bring in £12billion-per-year. She said funds could also be raised through a windfall tax on the big banks after bumper profits. Ms Graham added: "No one blinks an eyelid when it's the working class getting taxed pretty much through every sort of avenue possible. "Why is taxing wealth so much worse than what we've done with austerity, freezing tax thresholds, the public sector decimation? I mean, that side of the equation looks far worse to me." Ms Graham also said she agreed with the PM's analysis of the state of the country after he declared the country had taken a "series of wrong turns" since the 1980s with privatisation of key industries. She said: "I do agree with his analysis that actually from the '80s when we privatized everything within an inch of its life - I mean, I've often said, if they could have privatised air at that time, we would have probably been having to pay for breathing the air that we breathe." But the Unite general secretary added: "He does have to now move into the action part of what is required." She said she had told Mr Burnham recently "we almost need winter fuel in reverse". "What I mean by that is that when Labour went in and made the absolute diabolical decision to cut pensioners' heating allowance, we need something that is equally important as that the other way round in terms of saying 'we back workers, we back communities, this is Labour now in'. "That shows that in a way is clear, crystal clear and not be embarrassed about wealth tax, not be embarrassed about unfreezing tax thresholds, not be embarrassed to say to the banks you've had a good run, you do need to pay back a little bit here." She added: "The Budget I do think has to show a good direction of travel."