MORE than 400 Blackburn with Darwen Council staff have been put on notice of redundancy today after 'brutal' Government cuts.

Council leader Kate Hollern said they had been 'lied to' over the scale of its budget reductions by ministers.

Earlier this week the ruling coalition announced the council was facing a 8.9 per cent cut by March year totalling £18million.

But bosses have discovered the true total is 22 per cent, meaning an extra £10million needs to be saved, due to other reductions, such as grants, not being included in the figure.

Chief executive Graham Burgess said the 'brutal' total was a 'tragic double whammy for one of the most deprived areas in England'.

The £28million cuts figure for next year is the level the council had originally feared back in October.

Last month it was announced 206 staff had been put at risk of redundancy.

Coun Andy Kay, lead member for regeneration, said 420 workers had now been told their jobs were at risk.

It is feared that a total of 1,000 roles could eventually be cut.

In the new year a review of services that the council is not legally obliged to provide will begin.

This includes leisure and culture centres, advice services and parks, while even ‘core’ services like road sweeping, environmental health and building control could be heavily hit.

A review of libraries is already under way, and King George’s Hall and Blakey’s are unlikely to remain under direct council control in future years.

Council leader Kate Hollern said: “Clearly the government has lied about the true extent of the cuts.

“They keep banding the figure of 8.9 per cent cuts and saying this can be met with shared services and cutting back on management costs.

“That may be true with 8.9 per cent cuts but it is simply not possible to lose a quarter of your budget without that not impacting on frontline services.”

Mr Burgess said: "When the Government told our councillors we would lose £18million in the first year that was bad enough.

"Now we have discovered this is at least £28million. This is a tragic double whammy for one of the most deprived areas in England.

“We now need to identify £28million cuts by 31 March next year.

"Because of this, our councillors will have to make brutal choices about service and job cuts to deliver this massive cut for the Government."

Coun Kay said: “At this stage everything that we do is under review. It is completely unprecedented.”