Council tax has been frozen again in Hounslow but the opposition leader said he could not support budget cuts which would affect the "most vulnerable".

Taxpayers living in a typical Band D property will pay £1,374.77 in 2015/16 - that's slightly less than last year due to a £4 cut in the Greater London Authority's share, used to pay for services like transport and policing.

Councillors voted on Tuesday (February 24) to leave the council's share of the tax unchanged - the ninth year running it has been cut or frozen.

But despite welcoming the freeze, Conservative opposition members refused to support the Labour administration's budget in protest at the cuts.

Hounslow Conservative Group leader Peter Thompson said: "Every party, whatever their colour, recognises that efficiencies and savings need to be made in order to clear up the economic mess created by 13 years of Labour government.

"However, we could not accept a budget that slashes funding to voluntary and community groups - groups that support the most vulnerable or disadvantaged people in our community - by 25%, that reduces grass cutting by 66%, that will lead to the mandatory introduction of wheelie bins to every home in the borough, that will dim the street lights and increase CPZ permit prices by 12.5 %."

Moves to reduce grass cutting and dim lights are among £40m of savings already approved by this Labour administration, with another £19m to be found over the next three years.

Hounslow Council leader Steve Curran defended the cuts, which he claimed were necessary due to a reduction in the grant from central government.

"We know many of our residents and council tax payers are struggling to make ends meet and this is our way of helping them," he said. "We've set our budget in the eye of a perfect storm. While more people than ever need our services, we have had unprecedented cuts made to our grants by the coalition government.

"In total we will have to reduce our budgets by £59 million over the next four years. That’s one third of our annual net budget. To maintain good services with so much less money means a radical rethink."

Councillor Theo Dennison, the council's finance chief, claimed the cuts would help it invest in education and honour its pledge to secure 3,000 affordable homes by 2018.