TUC warns Britain faces "double-dip" recession
TUC warns Britain faces "double-dip" recession
Monday 14th September 2009
The leader of the TUC has warned Britain could face a "double-dip" recession if the current government, or the next, attempts to cut public sector jobs.Speaking ahead of the trade union movement's annual congress in Liverpool, Brendan Barber said a ten per cent reduction in the public sector workforce would push another 700,000 people into unemployment and send Britain back into recession.
Mr Barber also said the Conservative party was "profoundly wrong" in its plan to immediately cut jobs in the public sector if elected to power.
The current government has also announced plans to halve its budget deficit within four years, with unions raising concerns it could mean a cut in spending and large-scale redundancies.
"Public spending cuts would provoke a double-quick, double-dip recession," Mr Barber said on Sunday.
"Unemployment could exceed four million and it would take many years before there was any chance of returning to anything like full employment.
"That would scar for life a whole generation of young people. Spending cuts will hit both public and private sectors. Areas such as Merseyside, in particular Liverpool, which have a high proportion of public sector jobs, would be right in the unemployment firing line.
"A double-dip recession will not just be deeper but also longer. Prolonged mass unemployment would not just do economic damage, but would have terrible social effects. I don't think that Britain is broken, but this would be one way to break it."
Prime minister Gordon Brown has attempted to calm union fears by claiming the economy is currently on the path to recovery.
He is due to address the congress on Tuesday when he is expected to pledge the protection of frontline jobs.
Reports suggest he will also urge the unions not to "put the recovery at risk" by disrupting the government's plans with industrial action.
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