LABOUR leader Ed Miliband accused the Chancellor of being "no friend of the North" and said people would not believe his Budget promises.

And he said there had never been such a large gap between the Chancellor's rhetoric and the reality of people's lives.

The Labour Leader told the Commons: "Never has the gap between the Chancellor's rhetoric and the reality of people's lives been greater than it was today.

"This is a Budget people won't believe from a Government that is not on their side - because of their record, because of their instinct, because of their plans for the future."

The Leader of the Opposition continued: "And because of a Budget, most extraordinarily, that had no mention of investment in our National Health Service and our vital public services.

"This Chancellor has failed the working families of Britain. For the first time since the 1920s, people are earning less at the end of a government than they were at the beginning."

Mr Miliband set out the "inconvenient truth" of the Chancellor's record, claiming he had failed Britain's families by presiding over falling wages, not building enough homes and creating too many low-paid, insecure jobs.

He said: "People are £1,600 a year worse off, the next generation has seen wages plummet and tuition fees treble.

"You have built fewer homes than at any time for nearly 100 years.

"And it's certainly not a truly national recovery when there are more zero hours contracts than the population of Glasgow, Leeds and Cardiff combined.

"That is the reality of the lives of working people.

"These are the facts, these are the inconvenient truths of his record - it's a recovery for the few from a Government of the few."

Mr Miliband accused the Chancellor of creating a new measure of living standards because the Office for National Statistics model shows people are worse off under him.

He said: "People don't need a new measure which pretends they are better off, they need a new government to make them better off. That is the reality behind the Budget that can't be believed.

"You pose as a friend of the low paid ... you could not make it up."

He also criticised the Chancellor for "breaking the promise" of a £7 minimum wage by this year and mocked him for claiming to be a "friend of the North".

Mr Miliband said: "Isn't it great, the Liberal Democrats locked in the boot of the Conservative Party."

He turned his attention to the North of England, adding: "Let's really test him out on whether he is a friend of the North - 75 per cent bigger cuts to local government budgets in the North than the rest of the country."

He said 400,000 working families in the North West had seen their tax credits cut, adding: "That's more than any other region."

In the North-East, he added, the Chancellor was spending £1 on transport for every £25 spent in London.

He said: "This Government is no friend of the North."