Lewisham councillors were heckled and jeered by a hardcore group of anti-cuts protestors as they approved savings of £28.2m - with a warning that £45m more still needs to be found.

Members of unions, campaigners the People's Assembly and People Before Profit gathered in front of Catford town hall before last week's meeting, holding placards and chanting: "When they say cutback we say fight back."

Many of the protestors also took up seats in the public gallery, shouting down several cabinet members and mocking those who voted in favour of this year's budget - filling a £40m financial gap with the help of a £28.2m cuts package and the use of around £5m from council reserves.

The measures include an estimated 289 job losses, an end to the council's Meals on Wheels contract, cuts to park wardens and a reduced programme at Catford's Broadway Theatre, with a consultation also underway on social care cuts.

But the councillors saved their criticisms for the coalition, saying austerity measures mean the council will receive £49m less in government funding in 2016 than it did last year.

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Councillor Alan Till told protestors: "I think we all sympathise with you because nobody likes cuts. But I do think your action would be better placed outside Westminster which is the cause of all our problems."

And Councillor Joe Dromey said that, if no cuts were made, the government would send in a "Kershaw for the council" - a reference to the health official who recommended downgrading Lewisham Hospital's A&E.

"Let them," one protestor shouted. "What use are you if you can't fight to defend us?" yelled another.

Meanwhile Councillor Paul Maslin warned that a further £45m in cuts were on the way over the next two years. He told the meeting: "That's the reality and we have to live with the reality that faces us."

Only Lewisham's sole non-Labour member -  the Greens' Councillor John Coughlin - voted against the budget, highlighting concerns over the decision to freeze Council Tax which, he said, "may make a bad situation worse."

But Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock said: "It gives me no pleasure to propose this budget to council but I know that the alternative would be to leave it to central government and allow these decisions to be made by those with no feel for, or commitment to, the people of Lewisham."