MP Jack Straw branded the scale of the cuts at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council as ‘monstrous’.

However, the town hall’s Conservatives backed the government’s drastic deficit-cutting plans which has prompted the council's funding shortfall.

Mr Straw said he intended to raise the issue in the House of Commons, adding: “It’s a straightforward discrimination against less well-off areas.”

But the borough’s Conservative Mike Lee, the council’s previous leader, said ministers had been left in a ‘perilous position’.

He said councils like Blackburn with Darwen had been traditionally given more grants than other areas, which was why their losses looked greater.

Coun Lee said: “You can blame Gordon Brown, or the bankers, but it’s vital that the Government addresses the issue.

“It means there will be some deep cuts, and we need to focus on the services that people really need, not those that are nice to provide.”

Unison representative Gareth Roscoe said the scale of the cuts was the worst of his 20 years in local government.

He did not rule out industrial action, but said this was currently ‘very unlikely’ because of the position the council had been left in by the budget cuts.

He said adult social care was the service he was most concerned about, because of the combination of budget cuts and rising demand, and help for vulnerable children was also a worry.

Mr Roscoe added: “There are lots of little things that may not be the end of the world, but together they give children things that kids in leafy suburbs don’t have to think about.”