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Unions demand government make ‘cast-iron guarantee’ there will be no crippling cuts to public services

UNIONS called on the government today to make a “cast-iron guarantee” that there will be no crippling cuts to public services after Liz Truss indicated that “efficiency savings” were needed.

A joint letter from TUC and 18 unions warns the Prime Minister and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng not to “sacrifice” front-line services for the super-rich following the devastating impact last week’s mini-Budget has had on the economy.

In her long pause-filled first public statement since the Budget announcement, Ms Truss signalled that government departments will have to find efficiency savings to make up for the falling real-terms value of their current spending limits, claiming that there were “plenty of areas” to do so.

The PM also defended the “banker’s Budget” despite widespread criticism from MPs — including her own — campaigners, unions and national and international groups, as well as the plummeting value of the pound.

Ms Truss said her tax-cutting measures were the “right plan” in her first public comments on the chaos.

And Mr Kwarteng remained blind to the warnings, saying the government was sticking to the plans, which are “absolutely essential” to improving economic growth.

In a message to MPs, the Chancellor said: “I understand your concern. We are one team and need to remain focused.

“We will show markets our plan is sound, credible and will work to drive growth.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that after years of austerity there was simply no scope for further efficiencies.

“After 12 years of cutting services to the bone, there is nothing left to trim,” she said.

“When the Conservatives say efficiency savings, this is usually code for cuts.”

The letter urged Ms Truss to honour a pledge during her Tory leadership campaign that there would be no further cuts to spending.

They said public-sector staff had seen their living standards “decimated” by pay cuts and pay freezes and that further reductions would be “an act of national vandalism and a huge betrayal of the British people.”

The letter reads: “Front-line services are already at breaking point. They must not be sacrificed to make the top 1 per cent even richer.

“Unions will not sit by and allow the government to impoverish public services and the amazing staff who deliver them.”

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said the government must “stop the chaos” and abandon its “disastrous financial experiment.”

She said: “Borrowing to fund huge tax cuts for the super wealthy has taken the UK economy to the brink and is in danger of risking much that we hold dear.

“Suggestions that benefits won’t rise with soaring inflation and beleaguered public services are to be squeezed is a terrifying prospect.

“The government seems to have no idea of the damage its foolhardy approach is wreaking.”

Ms McAnea said that essential services need support and investment rather than cuts that will “harm communities irreparably.”

She also called for a general election so that “people can tell the Prime Minister what they really think of her plans to take us all to hell in a handcart.”

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng have done very little to reassure the markets on the tax cuts.

She said: “It is disgraceful that the family finances of people across the country are being put on the line simply so the government can give huge unfunded tax cuts to the richest companies and those earning hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.”

The value of the pound fell back down following Ms Truss’s statements after briefly recovering on Wednesday when the Bank of England announced it would buy government bonds to stop a price slide.

It was also affected by the International Monetary Fund’s appeal on the government to scrap the tax cut plans.

“The UK government needs to offer a credible fiscal plan to complement the BoE’s financial stabilisation in a way that supports long-term growth without boosting inflation expectations,” David Chao of Invesco said in a report.

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