THE pace and scale of the Government’s spending cuts has been criticised by Liberal Democrat leaders in south Worcestershire.

Councillors Liz Tucker, Worcestershire County Council; Margaret Rowley, Wychavon District Council, and Helen Dyke, Wyre Forest Forest District Council, were among 88 local Lib Dem heads, including 17 town hall leaders, to warn the cuts will damage the economy, hit the vulnerable and result in forced redundancies.

Councillors Sue Askin, Worcester City Council, and Tom Wells, Malvern Hills District Council, did not sign up – although the latter said he would have done if he had the chance.

The move has highlighted more divisions in the party and piled more pressure on Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Councillors Rowley, Dyke and Askin were unavailable for comment yesterday, while Coun Tucker said: “We are not attacking the coalition as a whole, but we are saying they have got this wrong.”

She acknowledged that the letter puts more pressure on Mr Clegg, but that there was no point in staying silent.

Coun Wells said he did not think the issue was a deal-breaker for the coalition, and said: “It would have been helpful if the pace of the cuts was slower and more considered.

“It does potentially threaten not only local services and jobs but the national economy itself.

“The coalition is a government of compromise and it is obvious the Conservatives aren’t getting everything they want and we are in a similar position.

“I think the likes of Nick Clegg and Vince Cable and other people didn’t quite appreciate the depth of the problem in terms of national finance until they took office.”

The open letter, published in the Times yesterday, accused Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles of “letting down” users of council services and refusing to work with councillors.

“These cuts will have an undoubted impact on all frontline council services, including care services to the vulnerable,” they said.

“Rather than assist the country’s recovery by making savings to the public in a way that can protect local economies and the front line, the cuts are structured in such a way that they will do the opposite.”

The signatories claimed that Mr Pickles has “felt it better to shake a stick at councillors.”

Labour’s shadow local government secretary, Caroline Flint, said the letter was “too little, too late” while Lib Dem Communities Minister Andrew Stunell called on the party not to fall out over “pointless debate”.