Trades unions were today warned by Chancellor Gordon Brown today that there would be no changes to legislation to allow secondary industrial action. Speaking at the annual conference of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Brown said there must be "no return to the inflationary pay deals and the old conflicts and disorder of the past". Brown, widely tipped to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister, issued a blunt message to those who may have expected him to respond positively to changes to industrial laws. "I tell you straight - in the face of the global challenge...there is no hiding place, no safe haven other than equipping ourselves better for our future," he told delegates. Union leaders had demanded a repeal of the law that bans secondary, or supportive, industrial action following the sacking of 670 workers at airline caterer Gate Gourmet. However, Brown did promise to honour the so-called Warwick agreement on workers rights agreed before the last general election. Unions had complained the deal was taking too long to implement, but Brown said "Tony Blair and the government will, as a priority, put into place this year and next the legislation honouring in full the Warwick agreement".