Council tax may need be raised by six per cent due to government cuts, a county councillor has speculated.

Hertfordshire County councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst, who represents Central Watford and Oxhey, said his party were disappointed to see that the local government finance settlement, distributed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, does not contain any resource for counties.

Cllr Giles-Medhurst fears this will mean Hertfordshire will suffer when it needs to safeguard vital services.

Other sources of income for local councils, including core government grants and specific grants, have also been reduced according to the party.

The Liberal Democrats claim core government grants are expected to reduce by 43 per cent over the next two years for counties, and specific grants will end over the next two years, meaning even by raising council tax by one per cent it will raise just "a fraction" of the reductions.

Cllr Giles-Medhurst said: "It is the least well off and those on fixed incomes who will suffer the most as a greater percentage of their income goes on council tax and basic needs such as fuel bills and food.

"The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for the government to take an all party bipartisan approach to the growing social care burden, just allowing councils to increase council tax will not solve that problem.

"Liberal Democrats have already proposed that basic tax must go up so to find this and those who earn more will pay more!"

According to the Liberal Democrats, in order to meet the cost demands, the council may have to increase tax by almost six per cent.

A spokesman for the MHCLG said: "We are giving councils the certainty to plan ahead with our funding settlement and Watford Borough Council will receive £25m over the next two years to spend on services.

"We have published a consultation on how councils are funded that will take into account their own needs and circumstances.

"We are working with the Local Government Association and representatives from across local government and we aim to bring in a new system by April 2020."