HUNDREDS of people are to protest against plans to axe up to 1,400 jobs across Bolton Council.

Trade unionists, council workers and members of the public are expected to hold a rally outside tomorrow night’s Bolton Council meeting against widespread cuts sweeping local government.

The protest, organised by the Trades Union Council, will be the first time a rally has been held outside a meeting of the full council since Town Hall chiefs started announcing cuts across all council departments.

Up to 1,400 jobs are expected to be axed over the next four years as Bolton Council trims its budget by 40 per cent because of central government cuts.

Bernie Gallagher, branch secretary of the Unison Bolton Metro branch, said her members were angry at the proposed cuts, which has seen no department spared.

Even previously protected areas such as adult services and children’s services — which deal with some of the most vulnerable people in the borough — have been forced to make sweeping cuts which Town Hall chiefs have admitted will impact on frontline services.

Mrs Gallagher said: “We are deeply concerned by the scale of these cuts.

“They will have a devastating economic and social impact on Bolton and the sheer scale of them means it can only have a detrimental effect on frontline services.”

Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said he had sympathy for the unions but said he had no choice but to “act in the best interests of Bolton”.

He said: “Everyone has a right to demonstration and I do have sympathy with the unions, but if someone tells me that I only have £5 to spend then I can only spend £5.

“Some of the things we are being asked to do are draconian but I have to act in the best interests of Bolton because that is what people expect me to do.”

His Conservative counterpart, Cllr John Walsh, said the council had no options and should not “pander” to the unionists.

He said: “There were going to be cuts under the last government of 25 per cent but that was before we found out that the economy was in a worse state than we first thought.

“It is going to be tough but it will be easier if the council acts reasonably and boldly, rather than pandering to individual groups.”

The cuts to next year’s budget, announced in waves over the past two months, is the start of a four-year programme by Bolton Council to slash its annual budget by 40 per cent.

A number of grant-backed schemes have already been axed after the coalition government started to make headway in its drive to bring the national deficit back under control while Bolton Council has announced its plans to reorganise the library and museum service, cut back on care for vulnerable adults and cuts to discretionary grants for gifted children to go to private music schools and the grants handed out to low-income families for school uniforms.

Another round of cuts in children’s services is expected to be announced shortly with other departments set to follow suit after the outcome of the autumn spending review.

Alan Johnson, chairman of the Bolton Green Party, said: “The failings of government, and the sheer greed of bankers, caused this mess, and after we bailed the bankers out with our taxpayers’ money, they continue to pay themselves unjustified, massive bonuses.

“It is attacks on public services and unemployment for us, and but carry on as normal for the bankers.

“This is wrong and the people who caused the crisis, and can afford to pay, should stump up the money.”

andrew.greaves@theboltonnews.co.uk