RISHI SUNAK’S Budget was branded a failure for working people today by unions and opposition leaders.

For all the Chancellor’s boasting about his “fiscal firepower” and doing “whatever it takes,” he stood accused of doing too little, too late, other than for his big business allies — and made it clear that the long-term pain was to be borne by working people.

Mr Sunak announced the short-term extension of the furlough and self-employed support schemes and the £20 universal credit uplift, but there was no public-sector pay rise, no rescue plan for health and social care, no cash for social housing and no recognition of the need for government investment in jobs.