Labour 'losing workers' support'

Mr Prentis said the government was losing public sector workers' support

The government has been warned it is losing the support of public sector workers "in their droves".

Dave Prentis, head of Unison, told its health conference that ministers had a "last chance" in the Budget to show they understood why they were elected.

He said the union would head a campaign against privatisation in the NHS and "any bail-out of PFI consortiums".

The chancellor will outline the Budget on Wednesday when he is expected to announce £15bn of spending cuts.

Unison, the public service union, will lead the campaign against any privatisation of the NHS, Mr Prentis told health workers at the conference in Harrogate.

'Losing support'

He also said "fundamental flaws" in the private finance initiative (PFI) school and hospital building projects had "come home to roost" and they had had to be bailed out.

"Big business will only take the profit but won't shoulder the risk, while ordinary workers, expecting to put in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, are rewarded with threats of job cuts, low or no pay and privatisation."

There's less than a year to get it right Dave Prentis Unison

And in a warning to the government weeks after the email smears row, he told the conference: "The country is in a mess and we look to the government to come up with serious solutions, not to waste time in childish venom.

"But at the moment, the government is losing us. It is losing the support and trust of health and public service workers in their droves."

Later he told the BBC he believed the government knew it was losing the support of working people.

The government appealed to "big business" and was unwilling to impose higher taxes on the rich, he said.

He said he feared the money to fund bank bail-outs would be found through public spending cuts - damaging Labour's claim to be the guardian of the public services.

"There's less than a year to get it right, if they go down the wrong track this week it will set the scene for the next election," he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to reveal the extent of the rise in public borrowing this year, possibly up to £160bn, in Wednesday's Budget.

Experts expect predictions for the economy to be revised down to make it the worst recession since 1945.

He is expected to announce £15bn of Whitehall spending cuts from 2011/12 - Treasury sources said it would not mean reductions in services and personnel.

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