GOVERNMENT cash awarded to Southampton will not stop severe spending cuts from having to be made, council chiefs warned last night.

One city MP said it was “the worst funding settlement in Southampton’s history”.

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles yesterday revealed how much ministers would give the city up to 2015.

According to the limited information published last night by the Department for Communities and Local Govern-ment, Southampton will be given £212m by the Government in the next financial year, and £201m the next year.

This represents a two per cent cut in its total ‘spending power’ next year, followed by a 4.88 per cent cut. But because the term ‘spending power’ includes council tax and business rates income, the percentage cut in Govern-ment support is likely to be far sharper – around seven per cent for next year.

The Government also confirmed Southampton's reduction would be just over £10m between 2013/14 and 2014/15. Once inflation and other individual grant cuts are taken into account, it is likely to be near the £20m annual cut forecast by the council, which will lead to sweeping job losses and cuts to services.

Cllr Simon Letts, Cabinet member for resources, warned that “the devil is in the detail”, and said more cuts could emerge in the coming days. He said: “This is broadly in line with what Southampton was budgeting for.

“We may be able to take a bit longer in bringing them in to allow people to come up with other ways to run services. But the devil is in the detail, and there’s no end in sight for cuts to local government.”

Cllr Royston Smith, Conservative former leader of the council, called on Labour to do more to share services with the Isle of Wight, and go further with “pay restraint” for staff.

Cllr Smith said the cuts were in fact less than reported because extra grants, including to cover weekly waste collections, softened their impact.

He said: “As I understand it, this is a bit more favourable than people had thought. If that is indeed the case, it means there will be less job cuts and it will be thanks to the Secretary of State and the council needs to think more innovatively and protect jobs.”

But Southampton Test Labour MP Alan Whitehead pointed to figures showing the average funding cut per resident would be just £2 in Winchester, but more than £145 in Southampton.

Dr Whitehead said: “Once again, cities like Southamp-ton are decimated while wealthier areas like Winchester are protected.

"This is the worst Christmas present Eric Pickles could possibly give to council workers and people across our city who depend on council services.”