Lansley hits out at public sector cuts

HEALTH Secretary Andrew Lansley has privately attacked the government's public sector pensions shake-up.

In a letter to Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, he condemned elements of the reforms as "inappropriate" and "unrealistic".

The changes would hit women health workers particularly hard, and did not meet the coalition's "commitment to maintain gold-standard pensions", he said.

The damning critique, was written two months ago, after a paper describing the proposals was circulated to the Cabinet.

Mr Lansley's views, revealed yesterday, were seized on by the unions, which have threatened national strikes over the issue in the autumn.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "This is a letter that could have been written by any of the union negotiators.

"He confirms that the government is grabbing money from public sector workers to pay down a deficit they did nothing to create, even at a time when their pay is frozen for two years and many are facing job losses."