IAN Ducat, UNISON South West regional secretary, condemned some of yesterday's cuts as sordid.

He said: "When we look back in years to come, Twenty Ten Twenty Ten will rank with 9/11 and Black Wednesday as a day we will remember for all the wrong reasons.

"It will be infamous for triggering a massive increase in unemployment, and taking our economy back into recession.

“In pursuit of political dogma, today our ConDem Coalition Government has gambled with our future.

"We can only hope that the calamity that will undoubtedly follow will be less dramatic and shorter than some are predicting.

“The tragedy is that the gamble is absolutely unnecessary.

"The Government has manufactured the crisis for narrow political purposes.

"We knew all along that the Conservatives were desperate to cut public services but the tragedy is that LibDems have supinely swallowed the Conservative dogma.

“Whilst there is no question that the deficit has to be addressed the speed and scale of the cuts announced are totally unnecessary.

"The Government did have a choice but chose to ignore the options and the real risk is that job losses in the public sector will result in further unemployment in the private sector.

“What is perhaps the most sordid aspect of these cuts is the Coalition claim that they are fair and we are all in it together.

"This is absolute nonsense - TUC and UNISON research showed that the cuts will hit the poorest households up to 13 times harder.”