Scores of “angry” protesters attended two rallies in Telford to oppose Government plans to take an axe to the public sector.

The rallies came in the wake of the decision by hundreds of MoD workers who are based at Donnington in Telford to take to the streets yesterday in order to protest at the most recent proposals to cut jobs, and reduce redundancy compensation payments and pensions.

At the first rally the Public and Commercial Services Union met at Meeting Point House in Telford Town Centre yesterday afternoon in a bid to discuss alternatives to dealing with the national debt.

A second rally was held at Telford’s Civic Offices last night where Jonathan Sedgebeer, from Unison, spoke to teachers and school staff about opposing plans to privatise academies.

Mike Veric, from PCS, said there were alternatives available to the Government which did not mean jobs would have to be lost.

After the meeting first rally he said: “The rally went really well and we strongly oppose any public sector cuts because it is only one solution to the problem of the national debt.

“We have got to get our message to the public that there are other ideas for raising money. A report recently said there was £123 billion in uncollected taxes in the country. That could not only sustain, but enhance our public services. Even the National Audit Office has criticised the government for not collecting this money. If you were to employ people to collect that money there would be no problem.

“Everyone is definitely angry. If there are cuts in the public sector there will be cuts in the private sector as well.”

“We want people to know there are other ways of dealing with this which will not involve getting rid of jobs and public sector services.”

At yesterday’s march in Donnington, Telford MP David Wright warned any move by the Government to cut jobs will have a negative impact on the economy of Telford, as almost half the working population in the town are in the public sector.

He said workers who have supported the public sector for many years should not see their pensions slashed.

Mr Veric added the rallies were all part of a national campaign, which he says will be built on to fight the Government.