With the new ConDem government kicking off its cuts programme today, transport union RMT warned this morning that key transport projects, including Crossrail, High Speed rail, electrification and the Tube upgrades, are all at risk of being scrapped, scaled back or kicked into the long grass with the union forecasting that the national transport budget could be hacked back by up to 27%.

Yesterday, transport minister Theresa Villiers refused to give a clear commitment to the Crossrail project in its entirety - sending out a warning that the new government may see transport as a soft touch for savage cuts.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said today:

"It is clear that major infrastructure projects, essential to modernising transport services in the UK, are under threat as the government looks on transport as a soft touch for savage cuts. The continued threat to Crossrail, confirmed by the government yesterday, is the thin end of a very thick wedge.

Any attack on rail would expose the hypocrisy of the new government on their green agenda as it would send more people onto the roads and into the skies.

The UK has been left in the slow lane on High Speed and electrification as the rest of Europe motors ahead and thousands of the workers that we need to maintain and upgrade rail infrastructure remain under threat.

Today is just the opening shots in a cuts and austerity war that could ram a gaping hole in the UK fs public services and jack up mass unemployment to Thatcherite levels and beyond. It will require the maximum unity and resistance from the trade union movement to force back this attack on jobs, services and standards of living."