Public sector workers, trade unions and members of the public marched against £70m council cuts yesterday.

Under traditional trade union banners and flags, the march set off from Ducketts Common up Green Lanes towards Turnpike Lane station and then Haringey Civic Centre in High Road, Wood Green.

Led by a single piper playing the bagpipes and a group of public sector workers carrying a coffin which represented jobs and public spending, the procession was cheered on by motorists and shoppers as it made its way through the busy Wood Green shopping precinct.

The march of around a thousand people, organised by Unison, was held to protest against the £70m cuts to public services in Haringey Borough Council's budget, which was agreed last night.

Haringey TUC Secretary Keith Flett said: “It has been a powerful protest and the protesters are not going away.

“We understand that Government cuts, fully backed by the Liberal Democrats, mean that the council is in a difficult position.

“But of the strategies available to deal with this, making life harder for those already in need or with no other alternative provision in the borough really cannot be one.”

The budget which includes £24m cuts to social care funding for people with a range of disabilities including dementia and autism and was approved amid angry and chaotic scenes in the public gallery.

Members of the public shouted “cowards”, “Tories” and “shame on you” and repeatedly barracked the councillors assembled in the chamber as they voted through the controversial measures by a majority of 42 to 9.