THE leader of Oxfordshire County Council last night blamed the Government for the authority’s need to make £106m of budget cuts.

Keith Mitchell highlighted the £800bn national debt as he announced a range of measures to cut costs to cope with diminishing grants from the Government, which account for two thirds of spending which the council has control over – all education funding goes directly to schools.

Five months ago, the council said 500 jobs would be lost as it needed to make £90m of savings over five years.

Yesterday the council revised the figure to £106m, although it said no further job cuts would be required.

However, the authority admitted making motorists pay more to park on Oxford’s streets, ending non-essential roadworks and cutting youth services and children’s groups budgets will be considered as part of the cost savings.

Mr Mitchell said: “It’s very clear whoever is going to be in charge, the Government is going to have to cut national spending and put taxes up.

“We have never had the level of national debt that we have now. We’re the only country still in recession, but we’re still spending large amounts of money.

“The blame lies with Gordon Brown, who was Chancellor in his previous position – we have had 13 years of this Government and we have a country on its knees.

“We’re trying to get on top of this now, so we don’t have a horrible surprise in two or three years’ time. That means hard choices now, honest assessments and, in some cases, cuts. I will not insult residents’ intelligence by pretending otherwise.”

Councillors will discuss the financial situation over the next two months.

The authority said it aims to reinvest £75m of savings in services such as social care for children and adults.

Final decisions on where cuts will be made will be made in January before the budget is ratified in February.

Mark Fysh, the council’s Unison branch secretary, said it was the biggest programme of cuts he had seen proposed by the authority in his 14 years in the job.

Despite council reassurances, he feared more jobs could go.

He added: “These are not nothing jobs but real jobs that look after real people who receive council services.

“This isn’t just about jobs, it’s about the future of public services in Oxfordshire.”

Mr Fysh added that Unison was in talks with the council about 500 projected job cuts but said members would still be balloted on industrial action if large-scale redundancies were made.

A council spokesman said: “We have been working hand in glove with Unison on this but we have been very clear that our estimate of posts has not changed.”

No-one was available at the Treasury and No 10 Downing Street to comment on Mr Mitchell’s claims.

cwalker@oxfordmail.co.uk