THE severity of the cutbacks facing North East Lincolnshire Council was underlined by leader Chris Shaw who warned councillors of all parties: "If we get this wrong, we will all hang."
In a call for cross-party co-operation to help steer the authority through this period of austerity, he said: "We are all in this together.
"The days of politicians not taking responsibility are over.
"I can assure you that councillors in this administration will take responsibility.
"There will be no ducking, no diving, no hiding behind parapets, and no hiding behind officers. All councillors will have to step up to the mark and accept responsibility."
His comments came during yesterday's policy, performance and resources scrutiny panel meeting – the fourth in a series of meetings to discuss the council's budget proposals for 2013/14.
The biggest proposal to be discussed at the meeting was the planned £2.4 million saving on "demand management."
Councillor Darren Billard, the portfolio holder for finance, governance and support services, explained that the saving would be achieved by reducing the demand for goods and services and by securing better deals with improved buying power through the new commissioning team.
Mr Shaw added that £200,000 would be saved by re-aligning insurance premiums, which would allow the council to consolidate several policies into one over-arching policy.
Other proposals include cutting the £10,000 budget for finding consultants (to be done by the new commissioning team) and saving £28,000 by getting rid of the council's mobile classroom van.
