SOUTHAMPTON is likely to be hammered with yet more council cuts if the Conservatives win the General Election, a minister has admitted.

MP Brandon Lewis said town halls still had a “long way to go in terms of savings”, despite having made enormous cuts since 2010.

He twice refused to say future cuts would be “less severe” than those earmarked for 2014 to 2016 – when Southampton City Council will lose £15m.

Speaking to the Daily Echo at the Conservative conference, Mr Lewis said council funding would have a “hugely important part to play” in future cuts.

He pointed out that council reserves had been built up to a “record level of £21 billion” – and were rising by £3 billion every year.

Asked twice if council cuts would be less severe, Mr Lewis replied: “I’m not going to pre-judge what’s going to happen after 2016 – we haven’t got the allocations yet.

“When local councils claim they don’t have enough money, I do struggle to compute that with the fact that they are building up £4 billion a year in surpluses.

“And there’s a long way to go in terms of savings – there are still not enough councils taking on innovative work, not enough small district councils going through shared management and services.”

Asked if councils could cope with more cuts, Mr Lewis said: “I think they can”.

He urged councils to embrace more outsourcing and to cut, or scrap, parking charges to boost shopping and business rates.

Southampton will lose 7.1 per cent of its spending power from 2014 to 2016, and there will also be big cuts in Eastleigh (5.1 per cent), New Forest (4.8 per cent), the Isle of Wight (4.6 per cent) and Gosport (10.3 per cent).