YOU'RE living on borrowed time, and here comes the General Election!

That was the stark message from Bury's Tory councillors after town hall bosses officially handed residents an inflation-busting seven per cent hike in council tax.

Labour's budget was approved during a stormy council meeting on Wednesday night (March 7) which had one eye fixed on the upcoming election.

Tory councillor Jack Walton was scathing about the hike, saying Labour had increased the council tax by 30 per cent in the last five years.

'We were told that Labour would be kind to this council," he said. "Four years on, we are faced with the reality. Labour are pouring money into London and the South to ensure there's a second term for the Government. That tells us a lot about their morals."

Coun Walton also bemoaned another inflation-busting rise of 5.79 per cent in council house rents.

"The social services department is in turmoil," he said. "The roads are full of potholes but we get cycle lanes. Whitefield looks like a war zone, Prestwich has been allowed to deteriorate so that many people are moving out, while Bury town centre is gridlocked.

"We've had 15 years of a Labour council and four years of Labour government: there's no longer anyone else to blame. But every resident of this borough will know who to blame when the bills come in."

And he added: "You are living on borrowed time, and people have the opportunity to think about this in the upcoming General Election." Labour's council leader Derek Boden called this "a disgraceful farrago of nonsense", saying the Tories hadn't even bothered to propose an alternative budget.

And Liberal Democrat councillor Vic D'Albert added: "I don't know what planet Councillor Walton was on, but there were 18 years of appallingly bad, damaging cuts in services from successive Tory governments who did not give a fig about local government or the people this council was trying to protect."

Only the Lib Dems came forward with late amendments. They tried to restrict the council tax rise to six per cent, funded by anticipating extra money through the sale of council assets, but this was defeated.

Labour councillor John Byrne, deputy council leader, said the council had set a prudent budget.

"This is a wonderful budget for our schools," he said, pointing out that Bury had passed on the full recommended spending increase to schools, in conjunction with direct grants from the Government.

He said, unlike previous years, the council was not being forced into making harmful cuts. On the contrary, it was spending £645,000 on new services. It was also spending £20.8 million on its capital programme.

Coun Byrne admitted disappointment that Bury's financial settlement was not as much as it expected.

The bills are as follows (last year's figure in brackets):

Band A...£607.26 (£567.53)

Band B...£708.47 (£662.12)

Band C...£809.67 (£756.71)

Band D...£910.89 (£851.30)

Band E...£1,113.31 (£1,040.48)

Band F...£1,315.73 (£1,229.66)

Band G...£1,518.15 (£1,418.83)

Band H...£1,821.78 (£1,702.60)