IT was a black day in Middlesbrough, according to its mayor, who has to find £41m of savings in his deprived town.

Ray Mallon predicts hundreds of job losses will have to be made after the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review was announced yesterday.

But he pledged that services for the old, vulnerable children and disabled residents would be protected.

A survey carried out by Experian on behalf of the BBC last month ranked Middlesbrough the least likely place in the country to withstand economic shocks, such as spending cuts Mr Mallon said: “I have a great deal of respect for David Cameron, but these cuts at first and second glance are too savage, they are too deep and they are too quick.”

The announcement did not show any empathy with a town such as Middlesbrough, he added, where out of 23 council wards 16 were deprived and five were among the top one per cent in the country for social deprivation.

He said it cost £1m every time 16 children were taken into care, and safeguarding youngsters was already heading towards a £2m overspend.

“I cannot recall a more black day in relation to the finances of this country,” he said.

“The deficit has to be dealt with, but I do believe it has been too savage and cutting.”

The town, which is heavily reliant on public sector employment, is cutting its £236m budget to £195m over a fouryear period.

Mr Mallon said that when he was elected eight years ago he had pledged that there would be no compulsory redundancies and since then there had been relatively few.

When asked about how many public sector workers he thought would lose their jobs he said: “I see threefigure numbers. We are already engaged with a large number of staff.”

The town is bidding for city status in 2012 and Mr Mallon is a voracious supporter of the Tees Valley being awarded a multi-million pound Local Enterprise Partnership to help shape the area’s economic future.

“I agree with David Cameron that this whole region is too reliant on the public sector,”

he said. “We need more private sector jobs, but it will take time for the private sector to come to the rescue.”