THE leader of the North- East’s biggest council has launched an impassioned defence of his record, as his authority starts cutting £125m from its budget.

Labour-controlled Durham County Council faces £125m of cuts over the next four years, with the first £66m kicking in from tomorrow.

More than 1,600 jobs will be axed, dozens of bus services lost, libraries and leisure centres could close and £5.5m is set to be slashed from hometo- school transport.

But leader Simon Henig insisted: “We have no choice.”

He said: “We do not take any of these decisions lightly, but we have no choice, given the scale of the funding reductions we face.”

Issuing a personal statement, Councillor Henig said the cuts were equivalent to £100 for every county resident and would directly impact services.

However, the council had consulted more than 8,000 people and tried to respond to residents’ priorities.

He also pledged a capital programme of nearly £300m over the next two years.

“We will do our best to ensure the least possible disruption to our communities, but it would be wrong for anyone to suggest that life can continue as before – this unprecedented cut in Government grant to Durham will affect everyone,” he said.

Councillor Nigel Martin, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrats, who voted against Labour’s budget, said the authority faced a challenging situation, but it was being mishandled.

He said: “They’ve chosen to chop 30 per cent off everything, rather than think about the detail.

“I wonder whether they’re using these cuts to hide that they haven’t achieved the savings promised under Local Government Reorganisation and to say it’s all the Government’s fault.”

Councillor Richard Bell, leader of the council’s Conservatives, said: “The Labour administration has consistently ignored suggestions from opposition parties to make further savings, increase revenue or shift the balance of spending.

“The idea that they have really listened strikes me as a good April fool.”

*The Government’s public sector spending cuts could leave a shortfall of more than half a million jobs because of the lack of a strategy for growth, a think tank warns today.

The New Economics Foundation says 1.4 million people could remain unemployed as a result of the cuts because private firms will not be able to create enough jobs.