SWINGEING cuts to Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority will be worse than first feared if the Government caps its budget - with 195 staff facing the axe.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is planning to impose a £2m budget cut after accusing the authority of an excessive council tax rise.

But the total sum which will be slashed from the budget is £2.6m, it has now emerged.

This includes an extra £500,000 for sending new bills to householders across the two counties and £100,000 of other expenses linked to the capping threat.

Leominster MP Bill Wiggin warned of dire consequences for the fire service, which had previously forecast 180 job losses.

In a House of Commons debate, Mr Wiggin said the total job cuts were now estimated at 195 posts.

The overall strength of the service would be reduced by a fifth.

Mr Wiggin warned Ministers: "Bringing about, in a period of weeks, a reduction of more than 20 per cent in the size of the brigade is bound to damage the safe and efficient provision of a fire and rescue service."

The job cuts will include at least 93 full-time firefighters and 47 retained firefighters, plus support staff.

The Government threatened capping after the brigade increased its share of the council tax bill by 29.4 per cent.

The authority is urging Mr Prescott to think again, but if he presses ahead it will have to refund ratepayers by an average of £7 per household.

Mr Wiggin said the Government was to blame for the increase, not the fire service.

He said: "The Government do not fund Hereford and Worcester fire authority fairly, allocating a grant worth only £14.72 per person, compared with the average allocation of £19.50 per person for all other combined fire authorities."

The Tory MP also attacked the "sick joke" decision to cap Herefordshire council by £253,000.

"It cuts just 7p a week off band D council tax, yet it leaves Herefordshire council with even more of a struggle to comply with the increased layers of bureaucracy that the Government have imposed, without receiving adequate Government funding," Mr Wiggin added.

A spokesman for the fire authority confirmed Mr Wiggin's figures were accurate and that he had been briefed before making his speech at Westminster.