AN all party delegation will head for Westminster this week to bid for a better funding deal for Lancashire.

They will seek to persuade Minister of State Barbara Roche to loosen the purse strings and give the County Council the cash it needs to run its services. And senior county councillors have warned that increased council tax and reduced services will be options if government spending isn't increased.

The delegation will be headed by County Councillors Hazel Harding and Tony Martin, who believe they have a compelling case.

"We will be putting forward a very strong argument to the minister for better funding," said

Coun Harding said. "Lancashire has done very badly in recent years and has regularly had to put up its council tax above the rate of inflation.

"It is important that we stress how the low settlement is going to affect valuable services like education. Schools will receive every penny the Government has asked us to pass on directly to them but we still face an overall cut to the education budget of £9 million."

It is the third year in a row that Lancashire has done badly at budget time. In the previous two years the county was given the lowest increase of any county council in the country. This year's increase of 4.8 per cent falls well below the average of 5.9 per cent.

"The way the Government disperses money always means that Lancashire does badly, despite the fact that our comities have a wide range of pressing needs," said Councillor Martin.

The Lancashire delegation will meet the minister tomorrow.