Local government leaders have defended their financial prudence in the face of an attack from the unions. Union leaders called on councils to dip into their cash reserves to fund pay rises for staff ahead of strike action. Unison general secretary, Dave Prentis, claimed councils in England were ‘sitting on' a spare £3bn, which is not earmarked for anything. Mr Prentis said: ‘These billions of pounds in the bank, put there by the hard work of hundreds of thousands of low-paid Unison members, should be used by the employers to settle this potentially-damaging dispute.' As a result, he claimed council services would not have to suffer if local authorities handed out extra cash to the staff. However, his claims have been rubbished by the Local Government Employers. A spokesman defended council's for putting money away for a ‘rainy day'. ‘Now that the credit crunch has hit, alongside the huge rise in fuel and energy prices, their prudence will now pay dividends by protecting services. ‘It would be irresponsible of councils to dip into their emergency reserves, just when the economic downturn is starting to bite hardest,' he said.