Brown is heckled by union activists over public sector pay

The Prime Minister-elect faced shouts of "rubbish" as he delivered a speech to the Amicus wing of Britain's largest union Unite.

The hostile reception was in response to warnings by Mr Brown that above-inflation pay rises in the NHS would jeopardise the stability of the economy.

It was a foretaste of the anger Mr Brown can expect when he addresses the TUC conference as Prime Minister in September.

Mr Brown has enraged union leaders by staggering a 2.5 per cent NHS pay award in two stages - effectively slashing it to a 1.9 per cent increase.

Nurses and other health service workers have threatened to strike after an independent pay review body recommended a 2.5 per cent rise for NHS staff.

Mr Brown told delegates: "We believe that where people are low paid, they should get a better deal."

He added: "We want to reward the people who work in the National Health Service but we have also a responsibility to make sure we don't have inflation going out of control in this country."

As a handful of delegates at the conference in Bournemouth shouted out "rubbish", the Chancellor went on: "I see issues in the National Health Service that we have got to deal with and we will deal with them one by one over the next few months."

He added: "The National Health Service has got to get better. We have got to value the staff of the National Health Service and recognise people's worries about the future."

Mr Brown used his final Budget as Chancellor in March to insist that public sector pay would be reined in, announcing below-inflation awards for nurses, doctors, dentists, civil servants and prison officers.

Unions warned that the decision was a "slap in the face" and threatened to draw up plans for a "summer of discontent" which could disrupt Mr Brown's first months as Prime Minister.