UNIONS and campaigners united today to demand that Chancellor Rachel Reeves abandons her attack on the disabled.

Responding to the fresh cuts to benefits outlined in her Spring Statement, they urged Ms Reeves to boost taxes on the rich instead of targeting the most vulnerable.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham warned that Labour was pursuing “austerity mark two” and asked: “Why is it always everyday people that have to pay the price? It is simply wrong.

“Instead of snatching crumbs from workers, pensioners and the disabled, Labour should target the massive concentration of wealth built up by the richest 1 per cent.

“A wealth tax, as well as fairer taxes on corporate profiteers and the highest earners, would deliver far more money than any cuts to benefits and public services.”

Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union general secretary Fran Heathcote warned that “persisting with cuts to the Civil Service will both affect our members and the members of the public who rely on the services they provide.

“Civil servants, and the public, deserve better than a return to austerity.”

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said “austerity is ended in deeds not words,” adding that the statement “will cause deep anger among education staff.

“The NEU backs calls for a wealth tax and rejects the concept that cutting welfare will boost employment or grow our economy.

“The two-child limit and any further cuts to welfare will directly and immediately worsen the life chances for thousands of children.”

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright warned that “the cuts in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement will cause misery and could cost lives.

“It’s a disgrace that a Labour chancellor would deliver an assault on the welfare state instead of taxing the wealthy to fund public services and increase workers’ pay,” he said.

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey accused the Chancellor of failing “to tackle the deep structural problems in our economy.

“For four decades wealth has been redirected from working-class communities to private corporate interests,” he thundered.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea warned that failure to invest in essential services and staff is a false economy, adding that “cuts to welfare and attacks on those least able to support themselves are not the right way to deliver a thriving economy, nor good quality public services.”

Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, called the statement a “spring stalemate” with nothing to address fuel poverty or the cost-of-living crisis.