TUC: Public servants will suffer funding cuts

Cuts in funding to public servants were announced in Chancellor Alistair Darling's Budget speech last week, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has stated.

According to the body, employees in the public-services sector could be affected by Mr Darling's declaration that 'efficiency savings' will be made.

In response to the speech, TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, suggested that the standard of living enjoyed by public servants may be cut.

Workers in the sector will also be forced to 'accept pay deals,' he said.

Mr Barber stated: 'The Government must do more to defend public services, ensure they are properly funded and value the work of public servants, and abandon this relentless round of arbitrary cuts and targets.'

Private-sector delivery of public-sector services is 'ideological,' he added.

Mr Darling's Budget last Wednesday was his first after being appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer last year by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.