Salford in Greater Manchester is to be hit by waves of redundancies and axed services as the government slashes another £80 million from the council budget by 2017.

The coalition is demanding £25m in "savings" this year alone, it emerged yesterday, prompting stark warnings that local government services will be permanently damaged.

Salford suffers some of the worst deprivation in the region, including the highest rate of unemployment, which has risen by double the national average.

And cuts are already biting into key services to the city's most vulnerable people, including children and the elderly, the council warned yesterday.

City Mayor Ian Stewart said: "These government-forced cuts are horrific and will cause real hurt to real people.

"This is not about 'efficiencies' or 'rationalisations' anymore. These cuts will cause untold damage to the services we provide.

"Our two biggest spending departments - children's services and adult care - will inevitably and regrettably bear the brunt. We cannot make the cuts demanded by the government without vital services to the young and old suffering some pain."

Children's services will be cut by £5.6m and adult services by £4.7m.

"The council has been forced to make these heart-breaking decisions at the government's instigation, because we have a duty to set a legal budget," added Mr Stewart.

"If we did not, the future for Salford and its people could be even worse, with commissioners ordered in to wreak havoc."

Since 2010 the government has slashed £97m from Salford City Council's budget, resulting in hundreds of job losses and cuts in services.

Prime Minister David Cameron also came under fire from Liverpool's mayor yesterday after defending the government's axing of funding which is hitting vital public services and costing hundreds of jobs.

In a local radio broadcast the PM attacked Liverpool's Labour Mayor Joe Anderson, who has spoken out against the government's draconian withdrawal of 56 per cent of the Liverpool local authority's funding.

Mr Sanderson said working-class towns and cities like Liverpool were being penalised by the Tories and their Lib-Dem collaborators.