COUNTY councillors of all parties have formed a united front to fight for a better deal for Hampshire.

They will send a cross-party letter urging Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles to stop cutting the authority’s funding.

Councillors fear further cuts could damage frontline services, including safeguarding some of the county’s most vulnerable children and adults.

The authority has lost 51 per cent of its Government funding in the last six years.

As previously reported, library funding has been slashed, neighbourhood wardens axed, bus subsidies removed and hundreds of council jobs lost.

Funding has also been stopped for gardening and handyman services at sheltered accommodation and frail pensioners’ homes.

Hampshire is bracing itself for a further £100m in cuts that are likely to come into effect after 2017.

The letter to Mr Pickles comes after a motion put forward at the last full council meeting in Winchester by Basingstoke Labour councillors Criss Connor and Jane Frankum when the authority agreed its 2015/16 budget.

It will say that the council will find it difficult to take the same level of cuts in the next parliament as it has already made most of the cuts possible.

They say further cuts could put services at risk, including adult care and children’s services.

Campaign group the Taxpayers’ Alliance said it is time for the county council to dip into its £400m reserves pot to cover the shortfall.

Chief executive Jonathan Isaby said: “The council needs to stop the publicity stunts and get on with delivering the essential services taxpayers have paid for and deserve.

Reserves “It has acted prudently to build up reserves and it’s time to use them. Funding is extremely tight and that means we need to find necessary savings in both central and local government. There’s no point leaving £400m in a pot marked ‘do not touch’ when we need to deliver essential services.”

MPs and Parliamentary hopefuls have backed the council’s calls.

New Forest East MP Julian Lewis said: “Many MPs are worried that the balance has shifted too much against the more rural regions in the country in the sense that the big cities have been gaining.

“Local government in the main city areas of the country have benefited more from Government support than more efficient counties in less built-up parts of the country and it’s right that Hampshire should not be further penalised for being as efficient as it is.”

Ben Nicholls, Liberal Democrat candidate for Romsey and Southampton North, said: “It’s good to see our county councillors put party politics aside to focus on the major ways in which cuts are affecting everyday life. We all know that this Government inherited some pretty shoddy finances, but simply knowing that doesn’t make life any easier.

“So many people are being affected by cuts, especially in areas like social care and children’s services.”

New Forest East Labour candidate Andrew Pope said: “I support the motion. There’s a cross party view that cuts to local government funding has been too far and too fast and some of the decisions made for the coming budget are the wrong priorities.”