SURREY County Council leader David Hodge hit out at his own Conservative Central Government’s funding cuts as he announced he was to step down last week.

In an emotional speech, where he was moved to tears at some stages, Mr Hodge said local government had gone through the “most extraordinary and challenging times” over the last 10 years.

He said since he became deputy leader in 2009 a “staggering” £16bn has been cut” from local councils nationally - with more than £230m taken from Surrey.

He said: “The lesson of the last 10 years in local government is that while we have been focused on improving efficiency – preserving services, despite the increasing demands – our task has been made continuously more difficult for us by circumstances beyond our control.”

Mr Hodge announced at the full council meeting on Tuesday that he will step down on December 11.

During his speech he said he was “extremely disappointed” that the government had failed to deliver on “promises of inflation funding” for severe learning disability services, which it handed down to Surrey County Council in 2011. And that in 2013, when responsibility for public health was handed back to councils, the annual funding was immediately cut.

He said: “It is difficult for anyone involved in local government to accept that despite continually finding efficiencies and savings, continually weathering cuts in funding and continually facing increasing demands for children and adult services, that councils are expected to carry on regardless while the health service is handed more and more funding.”

Mr Hodge, who was appointed a CBE in 2017 for services to local government and charity, has been county council leader since October 2011. He said the council’s decision to not accept the government’s offer of a council tax freeze grant was a “brave and historic decision” which has led to an extra £250m for public services since 2012.

He said: “I have long felt that the solution to our financial pressures will not be found with government. Yes, fair funding by government ministers can help us. Yes, proper retention of business rates will make a difference. But, at the end of the day, we must determine our own future.”

Mr Hodge, who thanked officers, fellow councillors and his wife Anne for their support over the years, urged councillors to work together in the future asking them to remember the proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone….if you want to go far, go together”.