EU referendum: British workers would lose £38 a week after 'Leave' vote says TUC

A split from the EU would send the UK's manufacturing sector into steep decline and see workers' wages drop, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The group's latest anti-Brexit warning predicts that pay packets would drop by £38 ($55, €49) a week on average by 2030.

Frances O'Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, said: "£38 a week may not be much for politicians like Boris Johnson – a man who described his £250,000 fee for a weekly newspaper column as 'chicken feed'. But for millions of workers, it's the difference between heating or eating, between struggling or saving, and between getting by or getting on."

O'Grady also claimed that a 'Leave' vote would hit Britain's manufacturing sector hard. She added: "We'd lose manufacturing jobs that pay £100 a week more than service sector equivalents. These are good jobs in the regions outside of London that need them most.

"Our manufacturing sector, still battered and bruised by the recession, would be hit hard. And inequalities between regions would get even wider.

"That's why leading firms such Airbus UK, BMW Mini and Ford have come out so strongly against Brexit."

But Vote Leave chair and Labour MP Gisela Stuart claimed that the EU has been bad for workers. "The EU has been a disaster for workers, with unemployment in the double digits across the eurozone and harsh austerity measures implemented at the expense of vital public services," she said.

"The head of the In campaign, Lord Rose, has himself said that workers will get a pay rise if we Vote Leave. And as the Bank of England has confirmed, uncontrolled immigration has played a key role in bringing down wages."

The latest telephone and online opinion poll from ICM for The Guardian, conducted between 27 and 29 May 2016, put 'Leave' ahead of 'Remain'. The telephone survey gave 'Leave' a three-point lead (45% versus 42%) and the online poll registered a similar gap (47% versus 44%).