Unite blasts budget

Responding to today’s (March 6) budget, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “Once again the budget offers nothing but the same old failed choices and phony fiscal rules. The real issue is the crisis of under-investment in our industries and public services. We have a multi-billion investment gap, leaving the UK lagging far behind comparable G7 nations.

“The chancellor’s national insurance cut is small change when the average worker has taken a £3,100 pay cut from inflation. Meanwhile, corporate profits have soared by nearly twice the rate of wages.

“Workers can see the profiteers draining our economy. With the endless parade of profiteering announcements as company after company reports ever bigger pay-outs for shareholders.

None of this is inevitable: it comes from political choices, and workers and their communities have to pick up the pieces.”