LONDON — Britain's Treasury chief today unveiled the toughest cuts to public spending in decades, a raft of tax rises and a new levy on banks in an emergency budget aimed at restoring the country's ravaged public finances.

George Osborne told lawmakers his austerity package — which will see welfare payments and spending programs slashed — was necessary to make quick cuts to crippling national debts racked up during the global financial crisis.

The move puts Britain, like most of Europe, at odds with the U.S. government's view that the global recovery still needs support. President Barack Obama expressed his administration's worries about premature spending cuts in a letter to world leaders on Friday.

In Britain most public sector workers except the lowest-paid will endure a two-year pay freeze in his budget, while the majority of government departments face budget cuts of 25 percent.

Osborne said Britain will impose a levy on bank balance sheets from January 2011 to raise about $3 billion per year.

Also there will be savings through welfare cuts, by freezing child benefit rates for three years, cutting tax credits for middle-class families and limiting housing benefits. Britain will raise the state pension age to 66.