THE TUC will lay bare the brutal record of the Tory government in a series of communications over the next year and call on all political parties to commit to needs-based funding for all public services.

This evening, the annual TUC Congress unanimously passed a motion committing the union confederation to campaign for above-inflation pay rises for public service workers and a return of community policing with a “proper workforce plan for policing that cuts crime, not PCSOs [police community support officers].”

In speeches backing the motion, union leaders blamed Tory austerity for crumbling schools, prisoner escapes and falling living standards, and called on Labour to put forward “policies of hope” and introduce wealth taxes.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea excoriated the Conservatives for blaming for rising inflation on union demands for decent pay.

She said: “This is the most venal, corrupt, inept government I’ve ever known in my entire life.

“After 13 years of Tory failures in Westminster, our economy is weaker, our living standards are lower and our country is poorer — Britain is broken.

“There’s not a single part of our public services that have escaped Tory rule and Tory cuts.”

Amid record NHS waiting lists and councils going bust, she referred to “now prisoners escaping, schools crumbling — although not all schools . I’m pretty sure that Eton, Harrow and Winchester will probably escape that.

“Labour and the trade union movement must put forwards policies of hope for the British people.”

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka congratulated Prison Officers Association (POA) members for their strike action last year and said that they should not be “getting the blame” for the recent escape from Wandsworth prison.

He said: “Our schools are crumbling, [following] cuts since 2010 described by the IFS [Institute for Fiscal Studies] as unprecedented.

“We want no fiscal conservatism, no two-child policy, no breaking of promises.”

Mr Serwotka called for “urgent and radical action both industrially and politically.”

POA national chairman Mark Fairhurst said: “I represent people that nobody gives a second thought to [who are] currently in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, brought on by austerity measures because of the Tory government.”

The 155th annual TUC Congress continues until Wednesday.

General secretary Paul Nowak told the Morning Star that it would see delegates from 48 unions put together a motion in response to the government’s Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Act.