Ö÷²¥´óÐã

To George Osborne it's the "Unavoidable Budget", necessary pain for long term gain.

But trade unions have .

Unison say that's what it amounts to because of its assault on the public sector.

And indeed, unsurprisingly we will see huge government spending cuts, and a freeze on public sector pay for anyone earning more than £21,000-a-year.

But like much of the rest of the Budget, George Osborne was politically astute enough to try and balance the pain with some concessions to the region.

Yes, a VAT rise and restrictions on benefits will probably disproportionately hurt the North where we historically have lower incomes and higher unemployment.

But some will be lifted out of income tax by the rise in personal allowances, and others may benefit from changes to child tax credit for the lower paid.

Yes, the impact on the public sector will be significant, and jobs inevitably will be lost.

But the Chancellor also went out of his way to talk about the help that could be on offer to regions like ours that are heavily dependent on public sector jobs.

The Government believes the solution is for the private sector to grow and replace any jobs lost.

So there were some concrete policies on that score.

As leaked, new businesses setting up outside London and the South East won't pay the first £5,000 National Insurance for the initial ten people they employ.

There'll also be a Capital Growth Fund set up to fund regional projects over the next two years.

And talking of investment in infrastructure, George Osborne also confirmed that he will release the £350m the previous government promised to invest in the modernisation of the Tyne and Wear Metro.

Again, I'm assuming much of that will focus on how to wean the North East away from its dependence on the public sector.

For Labour and the unions though, these are just inadequate sticking plasters for a gaping would that's been cut out of the public finances.

Unions were protesting in Newcastle this afternoon to highlight what they believe is an assault on our region in particular.

It all felt very 1980s, but the unions say it's the start of a fightback against the cuts and policies they fear will hit the poorest as well as their members.

Of course, what we don't know yet is how the overall public spending cuts will affect individual government departments and how they might affect funding for our councils.

Our local authorities will be offered help to freeze council tax, but they will also, presumably, have to cut services.

We may not get that detail till the spending review in the autumn.

In the meantime, even if the Government would certainly reject any idea of a "declaration of war", the battle-lines are being drawn in the North by the unions.

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |
• - What's this?