HAMPSHIRE residents face a 4.5 per cent council tax hike after ruling Tory county councillors last night voted through their budget with a £14.7m list of savings.

The Conservative-dominated council swept aside opposition group objections to approve its £640m spending plans, claiming that there would be no cuts to frontline services.

The decision means that the county's slice of the council tax bill for an average band D household will rise by £43 to £999.

The total bill climbs to £1,350 including police, fire and district council precepts.

Council leader Councillor Ken Thornber used his 45-minute budget speech to attack the Labour Government and the amount of cash it gives to the council, claiming that it had decreased in real terms.

"Had we received the average of Durham, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, at eight per cent, then I could have reduced our increase to 2.5 per cent," he said.

Cllr Thornber said that the budget for 2008/09 would see £1m spent on residential homes and day care centres, £26m on schools and £29m on roads and bridges.

Councillor Adrian Collett, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said he agreed that money from the Government was poor, but he proposed a budget that would see a 3.5 per cent rise, the one per cent difference funded by cash in reserves.

He accused the Tories of pretending that there would be no cuts to frontline services, and that cuts to bus services and other key provisions were hidden by "weasel words".

Before the meeting, campaigners from Is It Fair, a council tax reform group, held a demonstration and called on councillors to lobby Government for a change to the tax system.

Campaign founder Christine Melsomsaid: "It's a vile tax that really has to go. The system is not fit for purpose - it has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese."

She said that until the council tax was scrapped and the Government was more generous in its grant, the council should look to cutting back its workforce.