Commenting on the spending review, Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said:
“Today’s spending review reveals the true extent of the Government’s failure. The Chancellor has got it horribly wrong – despite all the promises, the austerity measures and cuts, he still hasn’t got the country out of recession. We are still in the slowest economic recovery in 100 years and yet all we get from this Chancellor is more of the same.
“The Government is losing grip on economic reality if they continue travelling down the same path, expecting to arrive at a different destination. They need a plan B and they need it now.
“The idea that the NHS is being ring-fenced would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad. We’ve all paid into the NHS and we expect it to be there to deliver when we need it.
“How can anyone believe the Chancellor on unemployment because the figures do not add up. Despite the best efforts of the private sector any jobs being created are part-time, low wage and do not replace the hundreds and thousands of public sector jobs that have been lost. There are 2.5m people out of work, 1m are young and that is a shocking statistic.
“Instead of more cuts and austerity what the country desperately needs is an economic boost to stimulate jobs, growth and spending.“
