UNISON NDC 2026 - Reflections (Day One)

For the first time in many years, I arrived late to the start of UNISON National Delegate Conference due to other urgent matters. I am attending conference in my capacity as an elected member of the UNISON National Executive Council (NEC) for Community, representing members working in Housing Associations and the voluntary/charity sector.

Despite my late arrival, it was clear that there had been a number of strong and constructive debates on the conference floor. A range of views were expressed in what I would describe as a positive, comradely manner. In my view, this was particularly encouraging, as there is not enough space for appropriate and constructive critical debate on motions. Unfortunately, I missed some of the more controversial items due to my late arrival.

Following the close of conference, I met with members of my branch delegation—where I also serve as Branch Secretary—to deal with some important admin matters.

I then attended a fringe meeting on Responding to Reform and the Populist Right. This featured several strong contributions, including from Nick Lowles of Hope Not Hate. While the discussion recognised the very real challenges posed by the rise of Reform and other far-right elements (including more extreme groups such as Restore), it was not entirely pessimistic. There were some important positive points highlighted, particularly that the overwhelming majority of voters rejected Reform in the recent local elections, despite the party achieving some high-profile results.

A key theme from the discussion was that our response should not be to simply demonise Reform or its supporters. Instead, we should focus on clearly exposing the reality of their policy platform—namely that it would undermine core public goods and protections such as a free NHS, decent public pensions, and essential employment rights.

During the Q&A, I made the point that while I agreed with much of the optimism expressed, there is a real danger that our movement could “sleepwalk” into allowing a Reform government in the future. The current political dynamics remind me strongly of what occurred in the United States, where dissatisfaction with the Democrats for not being “perfect” contributed to the election of Donald Trump—twice. That experience underlines the risks of complacency and fragmentation on the progressive side of politics.

Conference resumes tomorrow, with the NEC pre-meeting at 8:30am and conference business recommencing for delegates at 9:30am.