Council tax bills in East Sussex will rocket by more than five times the rate of inflation in April.

East Sussex County Council yesterday agreed a 9.8 per cent increase.

Leading councillors blamed lack of Government cash for social services and the clear-up after October's flooding.

The rise will mean an average Band-D bill rising by £66 to £741 - and that's before charges made by district councils and the police are added.

The increase is 3.8 per cent above Government guidelines.

The ruling Lib Dem/Labour administration blamed ministers, saying inadequate funding had left the council with a £5 million shortfall.

Tories dubbed the proposals a "fudge" but failed to send the budget back to the council's Cabinet to be redrafted.

Council leader David Rogers said £1.5 million was being spent on clearing-up after the autumn floods.

The rest of the £6.5 million clear-up bill would be picked up by East Sussex council tax payers in the next few years.

Coun Rogers added: "We've had tea and sympathy, some have even had a visit to Number Ten. Now we need the cash and up to date we've had none."

On social services, he said the Government did not account for the number of elderly people in East Sussex and the council needed an extra £3.5 million.

He said 8,400 people in the county were suffering because of the funding rules, describing them as an "iniquitous social exclusion matter".

Tory leader Peter Jones accused the Lib Dem/Labour administration of emptying the council's reserves and increasing council tax by 65 per cent during its eight-year reign.

He said the budget would not pay for essential social services, schools were not getting all the money earmarked for them, and the proposals were based on costs only rising by 2.5 per cent.

He said: "This budget totally lacks credibility. It almost amounts to an abuse of our senior management team by this administration."