Government cuts will put “considerable extra pressure” on many services that smaller measures will fail to relieve, the leader of Essex County Council has said.

Following chancellor George Osborne’s autumn statement yesterday (November 25), Conservative councillor David Finch said the impact was far worse than anticipated.

The central government grant – which provided the council with £52.8 million in 2015-16 – will be axed over the next four years.

Cllr. Finch said: “Local government has been hit very hard – so much so the chancellor did not even mention the reduction to our budgets in his speech.

“The very significant reduction in our grant funding will place considerable extra pressures on services across the board.”

Also announced in the comprehensive spending review were plans to allow councils to raise tax by two per cent to pay for social care.

However cllr. Finch said the council was already considering a tax rise of two per cent, adding: “there is no new money in this, just new taxes.

“In Essex, 2 per cent would only provide half of the money we need to pay for the national living wage.

“We would need to consider the impact on taxpayers very carefully.”

By 2020 councils will be able to keep all business rates, the chancellor also announced yesterday.

Cllr. Finch welcomed the news, but he said the council faced a more immediate problem, with money reserves only able to cover another 23 days of funding services.

He said: “The chancellor had better news on devolution and retaining business rates but that was a promise for the future, rather than the reality of the situation today, which is far worse than we had been anticipating.”