The prime minister has said the country faces "hard choices" on public spending, but in an address to union leaders he did not reveal which services would be targeted for cutbacks.
Gordon Brown told the TUC congress in Liverpool that he would speak "the tough truth about the hard choices".
He said greater efficiency, "realistic" public sector pay settlements and asset sales would generate savings.
And the prime minister announced that "up to £500m" will be saved by reforming Whitehall early exit scheme payouts for early retirement.
But the key passage of the speech saw Brown warn that some government programmes will have to be axed.
"My motivation is always to do the right thing by the British people - investing more during this recession and others are following our lead," he said.
"Labour will cut costs, cut inefficiencies, cut unnecessary programmes and cut lower priority budgets.
"But when our plans are published in the coming months people will see that Labour will not support cuts in the vital frontline services on which people depend."
He said the UK had to take action to achieve the Budget plan of cutting the £175bn deficit in half over the next four years.
"We have to take action like other countries - America, Germany and France - we will have debt levels around 80 per cent of national income and as the recovery happens we will have to plan to bring that debt down," Brown said.
"And that's why to continue to fund our public services and to cut the deficit we have announced we will raise national insurance from April 2011 by 0.5 per cent to help pay for our public services.
"That's why at the same time we will remove unfair tax reliefs on higher income earners.
"And why we will raise the top rate of tax to 50p for those on the very highest incomes."
The prime minister said his government made the "right choice" in supporting the financial markets and banks during the economic crisis.
"And we are doing the right thing to make sure that for the future as we move into a full recovery we will invest and grow within sustainable public finances.
"Cutting costs where we can, ensuring efficiency where it's needed, agreeing realistic public sector pay settlements throughout, selling off the unproductive assets we don't need to pay for the services we do need."
Brown said the government will spend a total of £5bn on job creation.
He announced "up to 7,000 jobs from the future jobs funding the next stage as we move to create 100,000 jobs for young people".
Brown also attacked the Conservatives, claiming they would "reduce public services at the very time they are needed most, make across the board public spending cuts to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest few".
He told the TUC that the Tories "make different choices about public services because they have different values".
Article Comments
Brown proposes to raise the National Insurance Contribution to spend on something other than National Insurance. "...to help pay for our public services."This is an attempt to levy a disguised tax, and to undermine the National Insurance scheme.
19th Sep 2009 at 4:23 am by James Nelson
