A call for Surrey's governing structure to be drastically streamlined to avoid imposing a 15 per cent Council Tax rise on residents has been dismissed out of hand by ruling Conservatives.

The Conservatives say they have to impose the rise because the Government has starved the authority of money it needs to look after its older residents.

But the Labour opposition believes the planned rise proves that the county's current two tier system of Government is not working.

Labour county councillor Robert Evans said: "If the Chancellor won’t provide the money for the county to run its services properly as he should, then we must ask ourselves are we managing our affairs properly?

"In Surrey, we have eleven borough and districts, each with a costly administration, council offices, a town hall, a chief executive and councillors.

"If you add on Surrey itself and County Hall, it means there are twelve chief executives, dozens of deputies and over 600 councillors – quite apart from parish councils."

Cllr Evans points out that neighbouring Berkshire abolished its own county council in 1998, passing their powers to the six district councils that became unitary authorities.

He said: "A similar, radical overhaul will make Surrey more efficient and save millions of pounds. It will bring in direct accountability as everyone will know who is responsible as they will only have one council.

"But when I forced a debate on Surrey County Council, I’m afraid the Conservatives chose the status quo and backed the present confusing expensive and inefficient, two-tier system."

But his idea has received a icy response from the county council's ruling Tory majority.

A statement from a spokesman said: "This would be a hugely complex and costly process and with our services now reaching breaking point due to huge funding cuts. this would not be an appropriate use of taxpayers’ time or money."