Swaggering Chancellor George Osborne faced condemnation yesterday for his fantasy boast that "Britain's economic plan is working."

Labour MPs and trade unionists lambasted the multimillionaire toff for hammering the workers, the sick and the poor with yet more vicious cuts in his autumn statement to the Commons.

His grim message to middle-aged and younger people was that they must toil until they drop in austerity Britain for shrunken wages until they are 68, 69 or perhaps even 70.

Tory MPs roared with delight and cried "more, more" as Mr Osborne oozed optimism and promised "a job-rich recovery for all."

Mr Osborne (pictured) wielded his destructive axe to slash a further £3 billion off public spending over the next three years in addition to swingeing cuts already planned.

A new cap will be introduced next year on welfare spending, while a pilot scheme will force 16 to 17-year-olds without basic maths or English qualifications to undertake training or lose benefits.

The state pension age will rise to 68 in the mid-2030s and 69 in the late 2040s "to ensure the pension age keeps track with life expectancy."

Mr Osborne boasted that raising the pension age would eventually save a massive £500 billion in state spending.

Councils will be pressed to freeze council tax next year and also to sell off higher quality housing stock.

"Councils will sell off the most expensive social housing so they can house many more families for the same money," he declared ominously.

The Chancellor announced with a dramatic tone that the fall in Britain's GDP during the 2008-2009 recession was now officially estimated to have been a "staggering 7.2 per cent," averaging a £3,000 drop for every household.

And he forecast that unemployment would fall from 7.6 per cent this year to 7 per cent in 2015 and 5.6 per cent in 2018.

Tories cheered when he finished his speech by declaring: "Britain's moving again. Let's keep going."

Leading trade union Labour MP Ian Lavery declared: "The Chancellor's triumphant attitude will not go down well in most parts of Britain.

"While the rich are receiving tax cuts, the least well-off are queuing up for food parcels. Is this what we want to see in Britain in 2013?"

Durham North West MP Pat Glass spoke of a flood of people coming into her constituency surgery and Citizens Advice Bureaus to tell of extreme difficulties in paying energy bills and water bills.

"Many of these people have never been in arrears before in their lives and have always worked.

"Yes, people are getting jobs. But they are on zero-hours contracts, they are part-time and they are low-paid.

"These are people who are working and are struggling. Osborne's policies are definitely not working for them."

Ms Glass reported that large numbers of sick or disabled people or those on benefits were "losing their grip."

Labour launched a "cost of living bombshell" poster campaign across Britain yesterday to highlight the £1,600 fall in working people's average income since the Con-Dems came to power.

But shadow chancellor Ed Balls confirmed that a Labour government would stick to the Tories' vicious spending cuts for the year 2015-16.

Public service union Unison general secretary Dave Prentis accused Mr Osborne of producing "a mirage" of economic recovery to mask what was happening in the real world.

General union GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said: "Britain's workers deserve and need a pay rise.

"Wage rises above inflation for both public and private-sector workers is only way we can have a recovery shared by all."