Alice Bacon Lecture 2026 delivered by Frances O'Grady
On Thursday 12 March, the 2026 Alice Bacon Lecture was delivered by celebrated trade unionist Frances O’Grady, former General Secretary of the TUC and currently a Labour peer in the House of Lords.
Named in honour of Leeds’ first woman MP, the Alice Bacon Lecture series was launched in 2018 through a partnership between the Centre for Democratic Politics and current Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, who is also Alice Bacon’s biographer. O’Grady joins an illustrious line of previous speakers, including Dame Professor Mary Beard and Baroness Hale of Richmond.
From left to right: Dr Sean McDaniel, Co-Director of the Centre for Democratic Politics; Vice Chancellor & President Prof. Shearer West; Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Frances O'Grady, Labour peer.
Baroness O’Grady gave a timely and astute lecture on the many intersecting threats facing workers’ and women’s rights in contemporary society, from capitalism to far-right populism.
She discussed how the current Labour Government was driving change to workers’ rights, such as the newly amended Employments Rights Act, while highlighting what more can be done – such as extending paternity leave. The rights of workers and women, she argued, are intertwined – and far-right populism poses the greatest threat to both. She thus called on the Government to do more to challenge its rise in the UK.
Interweaving her talk with stories of historic workers’ rights movements and personal anecdotes centring the important women in her life, O’Grady delivered a memorable and important seventh Alice Bacon Lecture.
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