FEARS over further funding cuts has seen county councillors from all parties unite 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 letter comes after a motion put forward by Basingstoke Labour Councillors Criss Con-nor and Jane Frankum, after the budget was agreed at the full council meeting in Winchester.

The authority has lost 51 per cent of its Government funding in the last six years and the county council is bracing itself for a further £100million in cuts that are likely to come into effect after 2017.

Cllr Connor told The Gazette: “They (the Government) think we are a wealthy council and we keep absorbing it and we have to do it by cutting in areas we really shouldn’t be cutting like social services, children’s services and disability services.”

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

Chief executive Jonathan Isaby said: “There’s no point leaving £400m in a pot marked ‘do not touch’ when we need to deliver essential services.”