Responding to shadow chancellor Ed Balls’ speech to the TUC annual congress Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) general secretary Mark Serwotka said:
“By refusing to condemn the government’s public sector pay freeze Ed Balls wasted an ideal opportunity to show genuine support for the alternative to the cuts.
“It is a complete fallacy that there is a choice between either saving jobs or boosting pay. To get our economy back on its feet and ensure living standards are not driven into the ground, we need both.
“Mr Balls rightly criticised the economic incompetence of the chancellor George Osborne, so it is extraordinary that he agrees with this shameful and damaging policy.
There was huge cheer from the hall when, asking a question about Labour’s policy on the welfare state, PCS national president Janice Godrich told Mr Balls she found his response on the pay freeze “extremely disappointing”.
