Britain's GMB union is warning of up to 200,000 layoffs in local government as a result of funding cuts by the central government. While a government official said that the number was unfounded, a union representative said that thousands of employees already know that their jobs are at risk, and half of the local governments have not announced their responses to the spending cuts. He said that they should cut executive salary and combine services to save jobs. The Local Government Association has also predicted around 140,000 local government jobs will be lost due to spending cuts.
See "GMB warns of 200,000 council job losses in England", BBC News Online, January 4, 2011