CALLS for councillors to stand up to the Government were made at the penultimate cuts meeting in Didcot.

Hundreds of people packed the town’s Cornerstone Arts Centre on Wednesday night for the second to last in a series of public meetings on county council cuts.

Much of the meeting focused on children’s centres, of which 37 out of 44 could be lost as part of the cuts.

But some people said council leaders should be more bold in their opposition to cutbacks.

Audience member Dave Stavris said: “There is a country-wide rejection of austerity. Why don’t the councils go back to Eric Pickles and the Government and ask for more money from the settlement?”

But council leader Ian Hudspeth said he had made his case to ministers.

He resisted calls to resign from the Tory party, saying that all parties faced the cuts and the Government would step in if they were not made.

He said: “Even if I did step down from the Conservative Party, I would still put forward a balanced budget.”

The crisis facing the county’s children’s centres was again the key talking point at the meeting.

One woman present, Julia Stackholm, said she had a child with Asperger’s syndrome, and was worried about what services would be left after the cuts.

She said: “I’m concerned about the future, about cuts to youth services going forward. I would ask if there is an increase in council tax, would it plug that £61m gap?”

That idea was endorsed in a vote at an earlier meeting at Oxford County Hall.