TWO councils approved cuts to their budgets last week but there was little sign of the protests which met last year's savings.

At the Town Hall, Lewisham Council had beefed up its security following a riot in November 2010 over its cuts programme.

Police stood guard outside while bags, phones, even keys, were confiscated on the way in. But this year only around 40 protestors turned up - the majority not even sitting inside to hear the debate.

Lewisham is making £3.8m in savings this year, deleting eight posts, but most councillors ignored the individual cuts, instead making endless grandstanding speeches about national issues and one another's political parties.

The Lib Dems had put forward their own budget, which included cutting the mayor's cabinet to three people, appointing a 'business champion' and offering £500,000 funding to support local firms.

But these ideas were dismissed by Labour councillors, who blame the need to save around £88m over the course of four years, on the coalition government's austerity measures.

In a rare comment from someone on the matter in hand, Councillor Darren Johnson, who voted against the budget, asked: "Is everything being done to protect services and to protect the vulnerable?"

The budget, which includes increases to garage rents and hostel charges, along with savings from a new waste management contract, was eventually passed.

Like Lewisham, Greenwich Council voted to freeze council tax again this year, but with few headline savings.

Greenwich Conservatives argued that parking charges should be reduced and asked why no mention was made of funding to the Violent and Organised Crime Unit (VOCU) in the report.

In previous years, funding for the unit, which helped lock-up 40 dug dealers in just one operation last year, has been approved on an annual basis.

A spokesman for Greenwich Council said: "The VOCU remains fully funded and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future."

But, unhelpfully, the council refused to say how much funding had been agreed, when, or by whom.