Council tax bills in Essex could rise by nine per cent, Tories have warned.

But Labour councillors said the claim was "premature" - while admitting there may need to be "adjustments" to department budgets.

Essex County Council Conservative group leader Lord Hanningfield said on Friday the Government's funding allocation for next year - announced last night - will mean a "massive" £30 million shortfall.

But a three to four per cent increase in bills is the more realistic figure said council leader and Labour group leader Mervyn Juliff.

Lord Hanningfield said: "This is very bad news for Essex. The Government has failed to give Essex County Council enough resources to prevent either cuts to services or a large council tax increase."

Essex has been given £931 million to spend, not enough to allow it to continue running services at the current level, he said.

But Mr Juliff welcomed the 5.4 per cent increase on last year's allocation, and said this included extra cash for education and social services.

"It is too early to say what will happen but looking at the raw figures I'm not looking for swingeing cuts to services, but there might need to be some adjustments."

Meanwhile Essex residents should not see a cut in front line police services despite a below inflation annual Government cash handout, it has been pledged.

The county's police force will have £165 million to spend on services next year, 2.65 per cent more than last year.

Tony Peel, chairman of Essex Police Authority, warned: "It's not enough. This Government says they are tough on crime - they are also tough on police budgets."

The full funding for Essex Police next year is £174.8m.

But part of this is to pay for policing in new areas in the south of the county the force will become responsible following Metropolitan Police boundary changes in April 2000.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.