GWENT councils are facing cuts of up to 4.3 per cent in next year’s budget settlement from the Welsh Government.

Monmouthshire came off the worst with funding 4.3 per cent down from the previous year.

Newport had a decrease of 2.6 per cent.

Torfaen was down 3.7 per cent, Caerphilly 3.4 per cent and Blaenau Gwent 2.8 per cent.

Across Wales, the decrease was 3.4 per cent on what they received last year on a like for like basis.

Public Services minister Leighton Andrews announced the amount each council will receive in Revenue Support Grant for 2015/16 at the Senedd yesterday (WEDS).

Monmouthshire Council leader Peter Fox said: "The announcement that Monmouthshire will have its funding cut by a massive 4.3 per cent is a colossal blow to the council and to the people we serve. This means that the council will need to find savings over the next three years of around £27 million. This presents almost incomprehensible challenges.

“It also means that Monmouthshire will be set to receive the lowest funding per resident of any Welsh council. I cannot understand why Monmouthshire's residents should be so disadvantaged.

“We hear too often that this is all down to Westminster but Welsh Government can no longer continue to simply blame others for the level of cuts that now threaten the sustainability of our local public services.”

Torfaen’s executive member for resources, Cllr Anthony Hunt said: ‘Torfaen will need to find an approximate £10 million of mitigations which is far more than anticipated in March 2014.

‘If we continue to protect schools and social care, then our scope for savings falls heavily on a much smaller pot which provides hundreds of vital services, including many statutory services such as waste, recycling or environmental health services and non-statutory services such as parks, community facilities and events.”

A spokeswoman for Newport City Council said the council had already done its best to make savings, adding: “This worsening situation will only mean that there will be even more difficult decisions to make which will impact on the key services we deliver.”

The leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, Cllr Keith Reynolds said: “It seems that today's announcement means that we will be forced to find savings of around £10million next year and around £30million in total over a three year period.”

Blaenau Gwent council had not provided a statement at the time of going to press.

Mr Andrews said: “The settlement I am announcing today is challenging but this is a consequence of the large scale budget reductions being imposed by the UK Government. The Welsh Government’s budget for 2015-16 will be around 10 per cent lower in real terms compared with 2010-11.”