The chancellor stood up today with a clear message for all but the richest in our society: ‘You’re on your own, mate’.

As has been feared for months now, George Osborne confirmed he will axe completely the revenue support grant which for generations has held together the welfare safety net we have come to depend on.

The chancellor will have you believe there are other funds that can offset this loss. That councils will be able to get by with council tax rises of two per cent and 100 per cent business rate retention.

Doubtlessly, as he finalised that business rate message, he will have looked out his window and seen the wealth enjoyed by Westminster city council. Sadly, the rest of us do not have an Oxford Street to contribute to more than £1bn in business rates.

In Newcastle we face a £16m shortfall, on top of the £100m in cuts we will have to make, as a result of the shift to business rates. Clearly, the chancellor has to ensure that any redistribution is permanent and not a temporary offer while the new system settles in.

The two per cent rise in council tax is also another typically disingenuous move by the Treasury. We need to cut care services in the city by around £15m next year alone. The rise in council tax will hardly make a dent in that, bringing in just over £1.7m. But you will not hear that from Osborne. Instead, as the elderly are left wondering if there will be sufficient care and the vulnerable look for help, the chancellor will insist he has provided the funds. He hasn’t. He has left us on our own.

Worse still, the chancellor is clearly doing this purely to further his career. He has set an arbitrary deadline and a made up target for his planned 2020 budget surplus. And, as Osborne sets out his bid for No 10, families will continue to suffer as a result.

In Newcastle, as elsewhere across the country, the price will be paid out in job losses. In March 2008 the government announced it would set up a taskforce to help the 2,00 people told their jobs will go as a result of the crisis in Northern Rock. In Teesside last month the government finally acted to offer belated help to steelworkers with an £80m task force.

In Newcastle we have lost more than 2,000 jobs as a result of Tory and Liberal Democrat cuts, and the Tory cuts to come will see hundreds more go. If we were a private sector company the government would intervene and set up a taskforce. It won’t; we’re on our own.

We’re on our own because the chancellor does not think a public sector job is worth the same as a private sector job.

We’re on our own because the chancellor does not want the burden of care to be his.

And ultimately, we are on our own because the chancellor does not understand the reality of his decisions.

Labour councils are doing what we can to pick up the pieces and create jobs while we wait for a Labour government, but with a government this committed to austerity, we cannot wait forever.

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Nick Forbes is leader of Newcastle city council. He tweets @Nick_Forbes