JEREMY Corbyn, in his first parliamentary act as Labour leader, is set to take to the Commons frontbench today to lead the Opposition’s charge against the UK Government’s "Dickensian" Trade Union Bill.

The legislation, which is set to dominate the TUC’s conference in Brighton this week, was, he said, designed to "shackle" trade unions and undermine their "important role" in the workplace.

Frances O’Grady, the TUC General Secretary, claimed the legislation was a “fundamental threat to our right to strike,” and urged “all fair-minded MPs” to oppose it.

Stressing that strikes were always a last resort, she said: “This Bill will allow employers to bus in agency temps to break strikes and will bring in big new restrictions on picketing and protests during a strike; including unions having to tell the police and employers what they will post on Facebook or twitter two weeks in advance...

“Threatening the right to strike tilts the balance in the workplace too far towards the employers. And that will mean workers can’t stand up for decent services and safety at work, or defend their jobs or pay,” she argued.

In her speech to conference today, Ms O’Grady will say that if an employer believed workers could not strike, they would not bother to bargain with them.

"We wouldn’t have safe workplaces, we wouldn’t have paid holidays and we wouldn’t have equal pay.

“Nobody would deny that strikes can be inconvenient. But when it comes to a threat to the fundamental right to strike, the public are with us. Because that's exactly what this government is doing. Attacking the very principle of the right to strike,” the General Secretary will say.

But the Government believes the moves are fair and proportionate. Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, has stressed it had to balance fairly trade unions' rights with those of working people and businesses.

"These changes are being introduced so that strikes only happen when a clear majority of those entitled to vote have done so and all other possibilities have been explored," he explained.

Among the TUC’s main concerns are that the Bill would introduce a 50 per cent turnout threshold for strikes and, for important services like fire, education, health and transport, at least 40 per cent of eligible voters would have to vote to strike.

At the TUC conference in Brighton, Sir Paul Kenny of the GMB dismissed suggestions that his union would support a general strike against the legislation but said there would be support for “co-ordinated action” with other unions.

He also revealed that he would personally be prepared to break laws that criminalised union activists.

Labour and the SNP made clear they would oppose the Bill.

Ian Murray, the Shadow Scottish Secretary, said the Bill was an “attack on the rights of working people the length and breadth of the country and an attack on people’s ability to organise for better wages, terms and conditions in their workplaces”.

The Edinburgh MP said if the bid to stop the Bill failed, then the Scottish Government needed to do all it could to ensure it did not affect people who worked in Scotland’s public services.

Roseanna Cunningham, the Scottish Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training, has branded the UK Government’s Bill “utterly regressive”, an attack on workers, and the Holyrood administration would “continue to vigorously oppose this legislation; we see trade unions as partners, not opponents”.

At Westminster, the Nationalists called on other parties to form a “progressive alliance” and back their amendment to “sink the Bill”.

The SNP’s Chris Stephens said: “We are committed to protecting the rights of workers and ensuring fair and equitable employment practices. That’s why SNP MPs are doing everything we can to fight the introduction of this Dickensian Tory Trade Union Bill, which contains regressive policies more suited to the 19th century than the 21st.”