IT'S not difficult to understand why county councillors of the ruling Labour group must feel upset with their Labour government.

Weeks ago they went to Westminster to plead with ministers for extra cash to avoid a double figure council tax rise -- an increase way above the rate of inflation.

But government reaction to the delegation's request has been to slash their cash settlement to the county council.

After making budget cuts the county council had managed to bring a threatened double figure rise down to 9.1 per cent but says it will now have to go up to 9.46 per cent. Blackburn with Darwen Council has suffered similarly and is assessing whether government cuts will impact on council tax. Coun Tony Martin, County Council head of finance says areas which are either totally rural or totally urban seem to have benefited while mixed areas like Lancashire seem to have lost out.

If that's true then taxpayers deserve a proper, rational explanation of why our cash is being cut.

Borough councils and taxpayers also deserve far more detail about how much cash is actually going to come to East Lancashire following yesterday's government announcement that £500million is to be shared by nine Pathfinder schemes around the country.

We thought our case had been accepted and significant improvements would follow -- now there is a suspicion that we have merely reached another round in a PR tournament.