Keir Starmer is under fresh pressure over the former Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke's defection to Labour after the president of the Trades Union Congress said her vocal support for anti-strike laws should be "incompatible" with the party whip.
Matt Wrack, who is also the general secretary of the Labour-affiliated Fire Brigades Union, has described the MP for Dover and Deal's views as "disgraceful" after she used a parliamentary intervention in March to blame firefighters for the deaths of three people during a national strike.
Wrack's comments are set out in a letter, seen by the Guardian, which was sent to Starmer this weekend.
They come as senior Labour figures have been forced to defend Elphicke amid claims she lobbied the justice secretary to interfere in her then husband's rape case, claims her spokesperson called "nonsense".
Wrack, who became president of the TUC in September, wrote in the letter that Labour's decision to admit Elphicke is "alarming" because of the party's promise to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, which in effect bans strike action across parts of the public sector.
"Labour's pledge to repeal this authoritarian legislation within 100 days of taking office, alongside the 2016 Trade Union Act, is a crucial commitment. It is therefore alarming that Natalie Elphicke has been admitted to the parliamentary Labour party. Elphicke was a cheerleader for the Minimum Service Levels Act, and has specifically targeted firefighters in her contributions in parliament.
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