SOUTHAMPTON city council's finance boss has blamed the Government for the financial mess that leads to annual service cuts and tax hikes.

This year, savings worth £11m are on the cards to balance the authority's £179m budget with a 3.3 per cent council tax rise.

In an interview with the Daily Echo councillor Jeremy Moulton said the level of Government grant, partly based on an undercounting of Eastern European immigrants, had failed to cover the gap left by the rising annual costs of providing services - made worse this year by the recession.

And he called for Southampton to be treated more fairly by Government, claiming similar sized northern cities were getting a better deal.



Below he talks about why the council finds itself in this position.

In the following video, Cllr Moulton tries to explain why he feels Southampton has these problems when neighbouring authorities do not.