WIRRAL-BORN union boss Tony Woodley said Labour’s transformation of the NHS saved his wife’s life as he attacked the Government’s “forest fire” of cuts.

The joint leader of Unite spoke publicly for the first time about his wife during a conference debate which raised the alarm over looming job losses and weaker economic growth.

Mr Woodley revealed Janet had a stroke but was quickly transferred to the Countess of Chester Hospital, where a £750,000 cash injection had doubled the capacity of the stroke unit.

He said: “My wife’s life was saved thanks to Labour and my family benefited from Labour. The terrifying worry is that, under this Government, other families will not be so fortunate.”

Mr Woodley went on to claim “David Cameron and his millionaire Cabinet” would escape the pain of pay freezes, benefit cuts and huge job losses to follow.

He said: “This Con/Dem Government, particularly the Liberals, has no political mandate for the assassination of our public services with their savage cuts and privatisation of our NHS.

“These cuts will not limit their harm to the public sector. Construction workers are losing their jobs with the schools project cancelled, transport will be hit with local funding cuts and manufacturing jobs will go as Government procurement dries up.”

The warning was echoed by John Wright, former national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses.

He said: “For every 100,000 jobs lost in the public sector, approximately 60,000 jobs will be lost in the private sector.

“It has to be remembered many of the small businesses rely on public sector contracts to keep them going.”