George Osborne's Budget was greeted yesterday with almost universal condemnation by union leaders.

Public-service union Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said the Chancellor had "run out of time and ideas.

"His claims that people are feeling the benefits of his austerity agenda are wearing thin.

"The public are not fooled, they know that the gap between the rich and poor is dividing society."

Trades Union Congress general secretary Frances O'Grady said the few "give-aways" in the Budget were a pre-election tactic aimed at the better-off, rather than an attempt to lift the living standards of the many.

And PCS leader Mark Serwotka said the Con-Dems' obsession with austerity was "causing misery for millions of people while the over-hyped economic recovery benefits only a wealthy few."

He pointed out that the government's own figures have been forced into poverty since the coalition was formed, while the cost of living is still outstripping wages.

Half a million people used a foodbank last year because of cuts and delays in benefit payments, he said, yet the Chancellor was cheered by Tory and Lib Dem MPs when he announced a cap on social security spending.

And Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Grahame Smith said the misery was being stored up, with most of the spending cuts imposed by the coalition yet to be implemented, and there was nothing in the Budget to help the low paid.

"This government is clearly intensely relaxed about falling living standards," he said.

Praise for the Budget came from the Campaign For Real Ale, for a one penny cut in beer duty.

However it added that Britain's poor are unlikely to able to afford to drown their sorrows.