A leading union figure has hit out at the government cuts that will restrict job opportunities for IT contractors and other workers.

Frank Hont, regional secretary for contractor union Unison in the north-west, said that the government's proposed cuts are completely unnecessary.

Many of the cutbacks being planned were not mentioned in election campaigns, Mr Hont adds, and he suggests there are many different alternatives to reduce the national deficit without losing jobs.

"There's absolutely no need to be making the kind of cuts that are being made or are being suggested," he said.

"In fact if you look back the country was [in] a much worse position financially in 1946-47 when we created the National Health Service."

As part of plans to cut government expenditure by a quarter, chancellor George Osborne announced in the June Budget that VAT is to be raised to 20 per cent and public sector workers will receive a pay freeze.