UNIONS slammed the Budget as a “continuation of austerity” as Labour “could and should have asked the wealthiest to pay more.”

Unite leader Sharon Graham said that Chancellor Rachel Reeves had “picked a side” by hitting workers with a stealth tax “while City bankers and billionaires go largely unscathed.”

Ten million more workers face a higher rate of income tax due the freeze on thresholds, the union said.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The Chancellor could and should have asked the wealthiest to pay more.

“The NHS, schools, councils, the police and other essential services require sustained investment if they are to deliver the changes voters want.”

The Fire Brigades Union said there were “significant gaps” in public-sector funding and a wealth tax it believes is needed to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

General secretary Steve Wright said that the Budget is “a continuation of austerity” without “meaningful action on taxing extreme wealth.”

It has also “done nothing” to improve education “running on empty,” said National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede.

“Educators believed Labour would at least start to fix the problems schools and colleges are facing,” he added.

“Instead, we have a government continuing to underfund education.”

The Chancellor “missed a serious opportunity” and put “plans to create an NHS fit for the future at risk,” said the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger.

A new regressive tax on international students will “do more harm than good” with Labour “echoing Reform by scapegoating migrants instead of addressing the real, deep-rooted challenges facing higher education,” said University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady.

Equity general secretary Paul W Fleming said that Ms Reeves’s promises to deliver “structural change” for the performing arts and entertainment industries’ workforce were “a damp squib.”

But GMB general secretary Gary Smith said the Budget “looks like the final nail in the coffin for the Conservatives’ failed austerity project.”

And TUC general secretary Paul Nowak added that it “delivered urgent relief to millions of hard-pressed households … and helped to rebuild our public services.

“The task of repairing Britain will need years of sustained investment. 

“To deliver the vital funds needed to rebuild our country, we need a fair tax system where those with the broadest shoulders pay their fair share.”