By Anita McKay

Government cutbacks have been described as “totally unnecessary” by Britain’s biggest public sector union.

Frank Hont, regional secretary for Unison in the North West, said that there was “no need” for the coalition to make such cuts and voiced his frustration on what he sees as the governments silence on pre-election promises.

“So many things that they have talked about introducing were not even mentioned in their plans before the elections, like massive changes to the health system,” he said.

Speaking at the 142nd annual Trades Union Congress in Manchester, Mr Hont maintained that there was “nothing fair” about the cuts being introduced and called on the government to introduce “some measure of attack on higher paid wages” as a fairer option.

Pushing for the cancellation of Trident as a way to save “up to £100 billion over the next five years”, the regional secretary urged the government to look for alternative options to their proposed budget cuts.