UNIONS will fight Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s plan to slash a proposed national minimum wage (NMW) rise that is to be confirmed in his spending review tomorrow.

Transport union RMT has not ruled out balloting for industrial action over the expected “assault” on wages for the lowest-paid, many of whom have been praised by ministers as “key workers” essential to keeping the country going during the pandemic.

A proposed 5.6 per cent rise in the NMW — which the Tories have branded the “national living wage” — is set to be scrapped for millions of workers, as business groups have said it could put firms out of business.