FURTHER cuts in government spending will leave Bolton Council “right on the edge” according to authority chiefs.

A study by the Local Government Association has found that English Councils face cuts of £3.3 billion in central government funding next year.

The association warned that local councils will have to make significant savings on top of previous spending cuts.

Bolton’s Labour-led Council has accused the government of keeping the planned cuts quiet ahead of the General Election and being “politically biased” against Labour councils in the north.

The local Conservative group has agreed that councils are facing an unfair brunt of the cuts — but insist they are still necessary.

The LGA has predicted that funding will continue to be reduced — by 11 per cent in 2017/18 and 4 per cent in 2018/19 before increasing by 7 per cent in 2019/20.

The cuts will leave English authorities facing an estimated funding gap of of £9.5 billion by the end of the decade.

Cllr Nick Peel, Labour’s executive cabinet member for the environment, said: “We have already been asked to find £43 million of cuts over the next two years — that is on top of a previous £100 million since 2010.

“We have a situation where the government tells us to make certain savings, so we work hard to put a plan in place that least affect frontline services — then low and behold they turn around and say we want more.

“They cannot say that they didn’t plan this before the General Election.”

He added: “There are many rural, Conservative areas in the south of the country that are being protected — this is a government that is clearly politically biased in its approach.”

Bolton’s Conservative leader, Cllr David Greenhalgh said he has “made no secret” of his belief that local councils have been disproportionately targeted by government cuts.

He added: “Our group will lobby the government for a better deal for Bolton if these cuts are unmanageable and vital frontline services are affected.

“However we must remember the reasons for the cuts — despite periods of growth, the last Labour government spent every penny the country had and borrowed more.

“So when the banks imploded, having been de-regulated by Gordon Brown, the country had nothing to counter it.”

He added: “This government was elected on a mandate of fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction.”