Labour would boost low-paid workers’ incomes if it won the election, it insisted yesterday after taking flak from affiliated trade unions.

A party spokesman said that shadow chancellor Ed Balls would “balance the books in a fairer way” if Labour was elected in May.

The statement was issued to the Star after a trio of trade union leaders criticised Labour’s plans for “austerity-lite” during the TUC’s Britain Needs a Pay Rise rally on Saturday.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey called on the party to “stop being scared of your own shadow” and offer a “clear socialist alternative” at the general election.

Communication Workers’ Union leader Billy Hayes said Labour must break with Con-Dem cuts.

He warned that a failure to do so would see Ed Miliband face a similar public backlash to that seen by unpopular Socialist Party French premier Francois Hollande.

And non-affiliated public-sector union PCS leader Mark Serwotka cautioned that civil servants would not spare Labour ministers strike action if the public-sector pay freeze continued.

“We have to be clear that George Osborne’s pay freeze is unacceptable,” he said.

“But if Ed Balls wants a pay freeze, that is absolutely as unacceptable, and we should tell our Labour politicians we will not accept it.”

The Star put the comments to the Labour Party in the wake of this weekend’s London rally.

A party spokesman said that George Osborne had ignored its advice to impose “tougher settlements at the top and bigger rises for those on lower pay” during this parliament.

He admitted that “tough spending contraints” would continue but said: “We want to see pay settlements that are fair as well as affordable.

“Public and private-sector workers should all share fairly in rising prosperity.

“So unlike the Tories, Labour will not undermine fairness and the independent pay review bodies.

“And we will instill fairness by doing more for those on lower pay with tougher settlements at the top.”