LABOUR’S shadow chancellor and the leader of Britain’s biggest union are both set to take to the stage for a special event in Bolton next weekend.

John McDonell MP and Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite the union, will be the keynote speakers at a celebration of 150 years of the Bolton and District Trades Council.

The day-long event of celebrations and debate will also involve a host of other names from the worlds of unions and politics.

But undoubtedly Mr McDonell and Mr McCluskey will be the big draws on the day and Martin McMulkin, secretary of the Bolton Trades Council, said he is delighted to have both men in attendance.

He said: “To have both John and Len speaking during the event and helping us to celebrate 150 years of the trades council is just brilliant. Len is the leader of the biggest trade union in the country and of course John is the shadow chancellor, so we are very pleased to have them. It is a very interesting time for the trades union movement at the moment because we now have a Labour leader in Jeremy Corbyn who we are all 100 per cent behind and the Labour party has now grown to be the biggest party in Europe.”

The Trades Council is the umbrella group of affiliated trade unions in the Bolton borough and has been established since 1866.

Mr McMulkin said: “The day will be a celebration but also a tribute to the thousands of people that have gone before us to form the trades council and what it has done for the people of Bolton. The people who set it up put their liberty at risks and we want to celebrate them. People forget what the trade union movement has given us, we take for granted things like sick pay and holiday pay, which are thanks to trade unions. And I believe that we are currently more in need of trade unions than ever before.”

The celebration event will begin with a short march at 10am from the statue of former local union leader John Fielding in Queens Park toward the Pavillion Community Centre, followed speeches, debates, as well as food and entertainment.