COUNTY council leader Keith Mitchell was embroiled in a political row last night amid claims that he kept voters in the dark over impending job cuts at County Hall.

Opposition leaders have rounded on him after he announced County Hall was planning to make 10 per cent savings of £90m over the next five years — with a tenth of its 5,000 staff to go.

Now they are demanding to know why there was no mention of the potential for job losses in the Tory manifesto for the June 4 elections.

Liberal Democrat opposition leader Zoe Patrick also claimed Mr Mitchell made assurances that jobs were not under threat at County Hall when asked to comment on cuts at a neighbouring county council during an interview.

She said: “It’s a classic example of saying one thing before the election and then doing something completely different when he is in power. It’s appalling.”

Despite repeated attempts to obtain a comment, Mr Mitchell has not returned any of our calls. He has gone on record to blame the cutbacks on a drop in Government grants. He said: “The responsible thing to do is realise what is on the horizon and plan in advance. But this is an estimate of where we could be.

“There is no point in fighting an election on estimates. But in planning finances, there is every reason to look ahead, with estimates based on sensible guess work.”