The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called upon IT contractors and anyone worried about the effect of government cuts on their jobs to back a different way of reducing the deficit.

Large reductions are the only way to ensure that the national debt does not escalate wildly out of control, the coalition government has repeatedly claimed ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

But the TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said that there is another way to reduce the debt, rather than having to choose between cuts and national bankruptcy.

Addressing the TUC Conference in his keynote speech, Mr Barber said that growth and job creation should be the bedrock of the recovery, ensuring flexibility for all workers and small companies.

"It is a genuine and effective programme to reduce the deficit – an alternative to austerity that encourages growth and jobs," he said.

According to a report carried out by the TUC and Unison, the proposed cuts will see a typical family with two young people on modest earnings suffer cuts equivalent to 6.2 per cent of their income.