UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, responding to David Cameron’s speech today (6th June 2010)on the economy, said: “This was a chilling attack on the public sector, public sector workers, the poor, to the sick and the vulnerable and a warning that their way of life will change. There was nothing in this speech that told the rich, the banking and financial sector or the city speculators that their privileged way of life will change.
“With breathtaking gall, David Cameron is spinning a myth about a hard-done-by private sector. The Tories and their friends in big business seem to forget the tens of billions of pounds of profit made by the private sector out of public sector contracts.
“And Cameron is trying to fool the public into believing that cutting public spending, quickly and deeply, has nothing to do with political priorities or decisions. I don’t think people will be fooled.
“It is a complete nonsense to claim that you can cut tens of billions of pounds from public spending and still protect ‘front-line’ services. And throwing public sector workers on the dole does not make sense – that will have a drastic impact on local economies. For every £1 a public sector worker earns, nearly 70p is spent in local shops, cafes, hairdressers and businesses.
“Of course we have to manage the deficit, but there are other ways of reducing it and that includes making those who caused the crisis pay a bit more, and by tackling tax avoidance and evasion.
“Cutting deeply and quickly risks plunging the country back into recession – public services are too precious to be turned into a political football.”
