Alistair Darling's announcement of a pay freeze for top public servants was today described as cynical and insubstantial by the Conservative leader, David Cameron.
In a sign of Labour's direction on public sector pay, the chancellor last night urged there should be no salary increase next year for about 750,000 of the best paid public sector employees including judges, senior NHS managers and GPs.
Public sector leaders expressed anger at the move, while business leaders called on the government to go further.
The announcement came on the eve of the speech by the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, to the Conservative party conference in Manchester today.
"I think it is slightly cynical in its timing; it is rather insubstantial in its content and it is not part of an overall approach," Cameron said on GMTV.
He revealed that Osborne would today unveil a comprehensive package of change on pay, pensions and benefits to tackle Britain's £175bn state deficit.
"Alistair Darling had a great chance last week in his party conference to say something about the deficit and he said nothing," said Cameron.
In effect, the freeze represents a pay cut which, by targeting the richest public sector figures, will be seen as a sign that the broadest shoulders must carry the heaviest burden.
More junior groups covering more than 700,000 other public-sector workers fare little better, with proposed rises of 1% or less. This small rise, lower than that expected in the private sector next year, will cover prison officers, hospital doctors and dentists, contract dentists, and civil service groups not tied in to multi-year deals. The recommendation will be put to the independent pay review bodies in the next few weeks.
The British Medical Association, which represents doctors, described the freeze as "very disappointing news".
"This is not the time to demoralise doctors. What we had asked in terms of pay increase for all doctors was 2%. A pay freeze won't help with recruitment and retention. GPs are potentially being singled out," a spokeswoman said.
"Given the responsibilities GPs have and the level of training needed, we don't feel that's the way to proceed."
Some assessed the pay offer as the toughest for 30 years, and as representing the first sign of how serious the Labour spending cuts are likely to become.
Nurses and teachers in multi-year deals that do not end until after next year will be excluded from the freeze, with their pay awards honoured. The military is also excluded from the freeze.
Jonathan Baume, the general secretary of the First Division Association, which representing top civil servants, said: "There is no need to make this announcement now. It means the three-year, 7% deal we had until next year is being torn up.
"We were due to submit details of our pay claim to the senior salary review body on 17 November along with the head of the civil service, Sir Gus O'Donnell. A lot of civil servants will be angry that a multi-year deal has been broken like this."
He added that the respected IDS independent pay monitoring body was predicting rises of 2-3% next year in the private sector, raising questions as to why the public sector was being singled out.
The private sector, reeling from the impact of the recession, called for further public sector cuts.
David Frost, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the pay freeze was "long overdue" and called on the government to announce a freeze on public sector recruitment.
He agreed that members of the armed forces should be a special case, given the sacrifices made in recent years.
The head of the Audit Commission, Steve Bundred, has already called for a pay freeze on all 6 million public sector workers.
