TUC: Cuts will cause "irreparable damage"

The TUC has warned the Government that its "reckless" policy of spending cuts will cause "irreparable damage" to British society.

In a hard-hitting statement ahead of the TUC Congress, which opens in Manchester on Monday, the organisation said the country's economy was in "great danger" from "unprecedented" cuts.

The TUC's general council warned that in next month's comprehensive spending review the Government will start to withdraw £32 billion from the economy in tax rises and spending cuts from April 2011, on top of the £8.9 billion already taken out this financial year.

The cuts will affect economic activity, undermine confidence and could lead to higher unemployment which was currently "stuck" at around two and a half million, with young people particularly badly hit, the union organisation said.

It added in a statement: "There is therefore scant prospect that the private sector will now create the new jobs needed. Falling confidence suggests a stagnant labour market and at best a jobless recovery.

"But the prospect of further deep public spending cuts makes even this look like an optimistic scenario, as both public sector staff and employees in the many companies that depend on the public sector for orders lose their jobs."