County councils today pleaded for ‘life raft' funding over the next two years or warned a ‘depressingly long' list of public services could disappear.

Speaking at the annual County Councils' Network (CCN) conference in Buckinghamshire, chairman Cllr Paul Carter warned ‘our services are under pressure like never before' due to reductions in government grants and uncertainty about the funding arrangements that will replace lost Whitehall income.