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Unions confront Brown over jobs Union election warning to Brown
(about 4 hours later)
Gordon Brown will meet 15 trade union leaders later amid fears that thousands of public sector jobs are at risk. Gordon Brown has been warned by a leading union leader that Labour is headed for defeat at the next election unless it does more for working people.
The prime minister is hosting a summit at his country residence Chequers to discuss concerns over spending cuts. Derek Simpson, the head of Unite, said many senior Labour figures seemed resigned to defeat and compared Mr Brown to a "rabbit in the headlights".
The government says it wants to halve the budget deficit but unions say this must not involve mass redundancies. He told the Guardian that Labour must be supporting industry and the unemployed, not cutting spending.
Meanwhile, the Taxpayers' Alliance and Institute of Directors say £50bn can be saved by measures such as trimming the civil service and ending child benefit. His comments come ahead of a meeting between Mr Brown and union leaders.
The meeting between the prime minister and the unions comes ahead of next week's TUC annual congress in Liverpool. Support for workers
The prime minister will meet 15 trade union leaders at his country residence Chequers to discuss concerns over spending cuts ahead of next week's TUC annual congress in Liverpool.
The meeting, at which union leaders will seek to put forward ideas for Labour's election manifesto, is expected to last three hours.
The government says it wants to halve the budget deficit - expected to be £175bn this year - over the next four years but unions say this must not involve mass redundancies.
Labour has got to be more clear that it is on the side of working people, rather than give the impression it backs big business Derek Simpson, Unite
Mr Simpson said the prime minister needed to act decisively on issues such as jobs, pensions and housing if Labour was not to be beaten at the next election, which must be held by next June.
"Labour has got to be more clear that it is on the side of working people, rather than give the impression it backs big business," he told the newspaper.
"You save the banks, invest in the banks, relieve them of toxic debt, leave people running them that ran them before, don't act incisively on the bonus culture and see 10,000 ordinary bank workers made redundant?
"What conclusion do you draw from that?"
But he claimed insecurity surrounding Gordon Brown's position was hurting Labour as the prime minister too often "behaved like a rabbit in the headlights, suffering a paralysis, for fear his colleagues are going to whip the knives out and stab him".
Friday's meeting, which will also be attended by the TUC's Brendan Barber, Unison's Dave Prentis and GMB's Paul Kenney, comes at a time of increasingly fraught relations between Labour and the unions.
Unison has threatened not to fund Labour candidates at the next election who support policies which threaten public sector jobs such as further private sector involvement in the NHS.
'No love-in''No love-in'
The general secretaries are expected to set out their policy agenda to the prime minister and give ideas for Labour's draft general election manifesto. A Downing Street insider said the meeting would be "no love-in" but emphasised that ministers were protecting jobs during the recession through apprenticeships and subsidised work places.
Those at Chequers will include Brendan Barber of the TUC, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson of Unite, Dave Prentis of Unison and Paul Kenney of the GMB. Ahead of the meeting, a report by the Taxpayers' Alliance and the Institute of Directors said the government could save £50bn by scrapping programmes and freezing public sector pay for a year.
Any cut in spending naturally has the potential for some pain, large sums can be saved without hurting vital services Miles Templeman, Institute of Directors It called for the abolition of Sure Start, set up to help children in deprived areas, and the Education Maintenance Allowance, designed to encourage teenagers to stay in college or training.
A Downing Street insider said the meeting would be "no love-in" but emphasised that ministers were protecting the unions' jobs during the recession by encouraging apprenticeships and subsidised work places. The Institute of Directors said businesses were having to make savings and the public sector must do the same.
The government has promised to halve the budget deficit - expected to be £175bn this year - within four years. "Any cut in spending naturally has the potential for some pain, but our list shows that large sums can be saved without hurting vital services," said its director general Miles Templeman.
A joint report by the Taxpayers' Alliance and the Institute of Directors outlines 34 measures they say would mean save Whitehall £50bn. The level of government spending is set to be a major issue in the build-up to the next election.
These include abolishing Sure Start, set up to help children in deprived areas, and the Education Maintenance Allowance, which is paid to teenagers to encourage them to stay in college or training. Labour says the Tories would reduce spending on essential frontline services if they gained power, choking the economic recovery and increasing unemployment.
The report also urges the government to do away with Child Benefit and the Child Trust Fund, instead increasing the child element of the Child Tax Credit. The Conservatives, meanwhile, say public spending must be reduced immediately to tackle the excessive level of debt.
It argues that, as this is would target the less well-off, it would do more to reduce poverty.
'Tighten belts'
In addition, the recommendations include ending free TV licences and putting a one-year freeze on public sector pay.
Miles Templeman, Director General of the Institute of Directors, said: "Businesses are right now making savings and cutting back on costs to get through the recession, and there is no reason why the public sector should not have to do the same.
"Any cut in spending naturally has the potential for some pain, but our list shows that large sums can be saved without hurting vital services."
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Families and businesses have had to tighten their belts with the onset of the recession, so it is now time for the government to follow suit.
"It is absolutely essential that public spending is reduced to rebalance the nation's finances.
"After years of simply spending more and assuming the taxpayer will pick up the bill, the situation has changed."
'Not painless'
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "We should be grateful to the Institute of Directors and Taxpayers' Alliance for spelling out exactly who the victims of public expenditure cuts will be.
"They explode the idea that cuts can be just painless efficiency savings and reveal that the victims will be pensioners, children, students, the poor and parents.
"Particularly striking is the absence of any cuts in the welfare state for the super-rich such as tax relief on the huge pensions that top directors pay themselves."
The level of government spending looks set to be a major issue in the build-up to the next election, which has to be held before June next year.
Labour says the Tories would reduce spending on essential frontline services if they gained power.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, say Labour is building up an excessive level of debt which must be addressed more radically and immediately.