A day of strike action in Job Centres and tax offices was marked by a rally of union activists and supporters in Bradford city centre yesterday.

Campaigners against the scheduled closure of tax offices, including the HMRC office in Centenary Court, and those fighting Government cuts across the public sector gathered beneath the PCS banner at the Memorial Gardens by City Hall to hear speakers call for increased opposition.

Public and Commercial Services Union Bradford Secretary Rob Williams told the two dozen people present that as the BBC was looking for a new Dr Who, he wished to nominate Prime Minister David Cameron: “Because he’s managed to take our whole society back to the Victorian age,” Mr Williams said.

Paul Tillyer, of HMRC in Bradford, said it was ludicrous to cut jobs at a time when tax from wages was desperately needed and said the problem lay with large-scale tax avoidance.

“And estimated £123 billion is lost each and every year in uncollected, avoided or evaded tax. We need to close those gaps,” he said.

Mr Tillyer accused Britain of being one of the biggest culprits when it came to companies using tax havens and called for greater international co-operation to crack down on tax avoidance scams. Work and pensions staff and HMRC staff took strike action at job centres and tax offices in Bradford, Keighley and Shipley as part of rolling Yorkshire-wide union protest.

The demonstration was called by the Bradford Trades Union Council and Bradford People’s Coalition against the Cuts to support the PCS in its battle to save 281 tax enquiry centres nationally, with the loss of 1,300 jobs.

If the move goes ahead, Keighley and the Bradford Enquiry Centre will close by the end of the year, with the loss of 25 local jobs.

Speaking after the rally, PCS local spokesman Mr Williams said ordinary people were being made to suffer: “There will be nowhere for people to have face-to-face conversations about their tax matters.

“We don’t believe that the internet or telephone are sufficent for complicated tax inquiries.”

A spokesman for HMRC said yesterday: “HMRC is disappointed by the decision to take industrial action.

“The two thirds of HMRC staff in today are doing everything possible to maintain services to the public."

A Department of Works and pensions spokesman said: “We have measures in place to deliver and maintain a service for the public.

“We expect everyone who is entitled to receive pensions or benefits will receive them. “Our top priority is to make payments to our customers and benefit claimants and the rolling strike action will not prevent us from doing so.