Post-Games Britain at crossroads, warns TUC boss

Mr Barber addresses conference today and is expected to launch a scathing attack on the government, arguing that the coalition’s policies are driving the country deeper into recession.

The Olympics have shown what can be achieved when leaders have courage to do things differently, he will tell delegates in Brighton.

“Rejecting those who say we have to do things on the cheap, and instead doing things right. Engaging trade unions as partners; giving workers as well as business a voice,” he will say.

“Let’s not forget how it all started, with that wonderful opening ceremony. Politicians have struggled for years to define what they mean by Britishness. Danny Boyle got it at his first attempt.

“It’s about our shared history. Our struggles. The suffragettes. Trade unions. The Jarrow marchers. The Windrush voyagers. The visionaries who, in the aftermath of war and amidst austerity, built our NHS.”

Read more: A mix of old and new at the TUC conference 2012

The leader of Britain’s trade unions will say that the summer of 2012 was a time when Britain was “in it together”, united by its own willing rather than because people were forced to.

The TUC conference will hear that Britain is at a crossroads: “In one direction is decline, depression and despair. In the other is recovery, regeneration and renewal.”

Mr Barber, who stands down as general secretary at the end of the year, will say that nowhere is the case for change more urgent than the government’s economic policy.

“It’s clear that austerity simply isn’t working. There has been no growth since the government came to power over two years ago. In effect the economy has become a gigantic laboratory,” he will say.

“A Britain of stratospheric inequality, hopes denied for millions of our young people. Our society is becoming more fractured as benefits are cut for the poor and taxes slashed for the rich.”