by Keith Richmond
Unison has hit out at business leaders who have controversially called on the government to make public sector cuts of an extra £120 billion in a bid to “balance the books”.
The Confederation of British Industry said Chancellor Alistair Darling should use his pre-Budget report to deliver a promise to balance the public purse by the financial year 2015-16, two years ahead of the present plan.
Dave Prentis, the union’s general secretary, said: “Here we have the bosses’ union jumping on the cuts bandwagon and, in effect, saying that the public services in this country should pay for the failings of the big banks.
“The CBI’s plans threaten to choke off Britain’s economic recovery. Cutting spending will only prolong and deepen the recession, leading to many more thousands of job losses – and misery for families right across the country.”
The union fears that bosses are piling on the pressure to try and set the agenda – of pay cuts and redundancies in the public sector – ahead of next year’s general election. It’s a typical right-wing Tory dream but flies in the face of the economic evidence which suggests that only government spending can help a country out of recession.
Mr Prentis said: “Public sector job losses or pay freezes will mean less money being spent in local economies and local businesses. Job cuts only lead to higher benefit payments and lower tax receipts, costing the Treasury billions of pounds.”
He added: “Of course we, too, want to see public finances balanced but that should involve making the banks pay back the money they borrowed and cutting projects such as Trident and ID cards.”
