THE boss of the RMT rail union says it is “prepared for battle” in the face of what he claimed were threats to services, jobs and union rights from the newly elected Government.

General Secretary Mick Cash said the entire Labour movement needed to stand united and warned that “cuts coming down the chute in the next 12 months will decimate services”.

Mr Cash spoke to delegates on the first day of the RMT’s annual general meeting in Newcastle.

In a speech, he said: "The election of a Tory Government hell-bent on an agenda of austerity cuts, privatisation and attacks on jobs and workers' rights throws down a massive challenge to the entire trade union movement that we need to be strong, united and organised across every sector and in every community to meet head on.”

He added: “The big anti-austerity protests at the weekend are just the start. “The cuts coming down the chute in the next twelve months will decimate services with the vultures from the private sector hovering to pick over the bones.

“The new wave of anti-union laws are designed to shackle and criminalise those in the front line of the resistance - the trade union movement.

"The attack on working people currently being mobilised against us will be resisted and defeated on our streets and on our picket lines. RMT is prepared for that battle."