Councillors warn against 'kneejerk responses'

In total the cuts for Hull, East Riding, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire amount to more than 10m.

Hull's Lib Dem Council Leader Carl Minns insisted mainstream services would not be affected. He said: "We are not looking at cuts to social services, leisure centres.

"If councils are worried about this, they should pull their heads out of the sand because there's a lot bigger cuts coming to local authorities at the end of the year."

Hull is losing 1.35m allocated in the dying days of the Labour Government, and 2m in grants to schools, from a total of 3.896m, the largest amount of the four authorities, but representing just 1.1 per cent of the area-based grant.

East Riding Council has had a 2m cut, including 1.65m in school grants, North Lincolnshire 1.2m and North East Lincolnshire 2.98m.

However as the cuts are not ring-fenced, councils are being given flexibility as to where savings are found.

Andrew De Freitas, leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, also a Lib Dem, said it was too early to tell the precise impacts of the cuts, but their robust overall state of finances meant "there should be no reason for knee jerk responses."

Simon Driver, chief executive of North Lincolnshire Council, was less sanguine, warning that finances were already stretched and they faced a "very difficult" task ahead.

East Riding Council said the council had been planning for spending cuts and was "better placed than most". A statement added: "We will do everything possible to protect services that are so important to the public."