Council chiefs have decried chancellor George Osborne's pre-emptive £200m cut to public health budgets – amid fears further in-year funding reductions could harm frontline services.

The reaction follows yesterday's decision to bring forwards £2.5bn public spending cuts as part of wider £13bn Whitehall scale-backs needed by 2018.

‘The sooner you get on with it the better,' Mr Osborne told the House of Commons yesterday when unveiling further cutbacks to unprotected departments – including £450m to the Department for Education, £500m for the Ministry of Defence and £545m for the Department for Transport.