BOLTON’S biggest union has released its own set of new year’s resolutions for political parties ahead of the general election.

The Bolton branch of Unison, the public service trade union, is calling for Britain to be taken in a fresh political and economic direction in 2015.

They say they will lobby Bolton’s councillors and MPs to support their agenda, which includes more investment in local authorities and transport, tackling tax avoidance and fraud and scrapping the "bedroom tax".

Bernadette Gallagher, branch secretary of Bolton Unison, said despite reports of falling unemployment there are more than 250,000 people across the UK who have spent Christmas on the dole.

She said: “Britain desperately needs an alternative economic and political direction based on investment in skills and infrastructure - this includes action to tackle the growing culture of low pay and zero hours contracts.

“We need a major house building programme to provide affordable social housing and create many thousands of construction jobs.

“We need to tackle the tax avoidance and excess of Britain’s boardrooms and put an end to privatisation in our National Health Service and other public services.

“We need major investment in affordable public transport to help tackle pollution and congestion. Investment in local councils is essential if we are to maintain and develop the local services that communities rely on.”

By introducing a new "Robin Hood" tax on financial institutions, taxing bankers’ bonuses and extending the 50 per cent tax rate to incomes over £100,000, billions could be raised for the public coffers, she argues.

The branch is also calling for the UK government to scrap trident, replace the minimum wage with a living wage and restrict the use of zero hour contracts.

Ms Gallagher added: “The current austerity agenda is hurting but it isn’t working.

“Savage cuts to public spending mean that there are fewer and fewer public sector workers.

“This has a direct effect on tax revenues and the amount of money spent on the high street. We have already seen the share of national spending on public services, cut from 26% to 20% – the level of the 1990s.

“Further spending cuts threaten to take us back to the 1930s.”