Empty pockets

The amount workers are borrowing to get through the month had risen sharply from £127 to £327 pounds since March as they plunge into "punishing levels of debt", Unite, the country's biggest union, stated.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said at the TUC "This is the harsh reality for increasing numbers of working people in Osborne and Cameron's heartless Britain, with the real pain still to come as this Government seeks more and more cuts. The Con-Dems have set us on a path to poverty that is destroying livelihoods and eroding wages. This clueless Government gives us policies to put extensions on houses when what people desperately need are policies to keep a roof over their heads and put food on their tables."
 Dave Prentis, leader of Unison, said "legalised loan sharks" were operating from high streets across the country, offering pay-day loans with interest rates reaching 4,000pc. "It's an industry that is now worth £2 billion a year, with six out of 10 using the money to pay their household bills or buy essentials, and trapping families in a downward spiral of debt and despair."