Building on the success of the march for the alternative against government spending cuts earlier this year, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber today (Thursday) began a series of visits to see the impact of cuts to public spending on towns and cities around the UK, starting off with Chelmsford in Essex.

The TUC believes that the government's deep and rapid cuts to public spending risk stalling the UK's fragile economic recovery and are already having a huge impact on vital public services.

In Chelmsford Barber was scheduled to meet with local trade unionists to gauge first-hand the impact that spending cuts are having on jobs and services across Essex.

He said: "Right across the UK, thousands and thousands of public sector jobs are going, and vital services are either being closed or severely cut back as the effects of the government's plans to reduce the deficit start to bite.

"My visit today to Essex is the first in a series of fact-finding trips over the coming months, designed to offer support to local campaigners protesting against the cuts, and to help us find out more about how the cuts are threatening to devastate communities in hundreds of our towns and cities."

Further information about cuts in the Essex can be found here.