TORY county councillors have rubbished promises of a low council tax increase and claim an extra £5million can be cut from Lancashire's budget.

Conservatives at County Hall spoke out after Lancashire's finance bosses revealed tax payers were due for one of the smallest increases in recent years.

Councillor Tony Martin, portfolio holder for resources, said the a rise of around four per cent was likely, before district council, police and fire authority precepts are added.

But Michael Welsh, leader of the opposition Tory group at Lancashire County Council, said the increase could be reduced to under three per cent if the number of vacant posts budgeted for was cut.

According to Coun Welsh Lancashire County Council has 212 full time vacancies which are accounted for in its annual budget.

He said over £1million could be saved if finance bosses removed 72 vacant posts from its spending plans.

"Lancashire County Council is financing posts that are never filled. By eliminating 72 posts and bringing our vacancy rate down from eight per cent to five per cent the council could save a million pounds a year", he added.

But officials from Unison, the public service workers union, dismissed Coun Welsh's suggestion. Jim Moodie, regional officer for Unison, said: "Local government needs more, rather than less, posts. It seems to be a bit of a broad brush approach to me. Some of the jobs they remove may be vital, like social service posts. It isn't the right way to solve tax problems. It is a potential disaster, depending which posts would be removed," he added.

Coun Welsh spoke out after the County Council's finance boss, Tony Martin, had promised one of the lowest county council tax rises in the country.

Coun Martin believes he can meet Government targets and has put forward budget plans which are due to be agreed at a meeting in February.

But Coun Welsh's Tory opposition believe they can make an extra £5million savings on Coun Martin's spending plans.

Councillor Martin's spending plan was formally agreed at a meeting of the County Council's cabinet committee on Thursday and will be put to a full council meeting on February 12.