TUC chief calls for end to ‘Tory axe’

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said a “senseless jobs cull” is having a devastating impact on local government, education and the NHS.

She told the annual conference of the Unison union in Liverpool yesterday that libraries, youth clubs, housing projects, women’s refuges and other services that communities rely on are falling under the “Tory axe”.

Ms O’Grady voiced suspicion that a trade deal between the UK and the US, promoted by the Prime Minister this week, would open the way to privatisation of public services on an “unprecedented scale”.

She said: “Nowhere is austerity more damaging, more demoralising and more dangerous than in our NHS. It is facing £20bn of so-called efficiency savings, and all at a time when private health care multinational corporations are circling our public services like vultures.”

The TUC leader said nurses, social workers, carers, refuse collectors, police staff and council workers are being sacked in huge numbers.

She added: “To Mr (George) Osborne (Chancellor) I simply say this – the game is up. Admit you are wrong, ditch the failed austerity experiment, and do it now. As it lays waste to our economy, the Government is also destroying public services that have taken generations to build.”