A new report claims businesses and people in the East of England currently receive the second lowest levels of public spending per head in the whole of England.

The East of England suffers from 'significant underspending' when compared to economic need in a number of areas, including health, education and housing, according to the report produced by the East of England Development Agency.

And with the government's comprehensive spending review later this month likely to see cuts to public spending of between 25pc and 40pc, the agency said up to 46,000 public sector jobs could be axed in the region over the next five years.

Will Pope chairman of EEDA, said: 'The East of England contributes around �6bn a year to the UK exchequer and we are only three regions to contribute more to the public purse than we receive back in public spending.

'If you apply the national average to our population, the East of England would have an additional �5.5bn a year to spend, which is staggering.

'Despite being seen as a prosperous part of the world, the East of England suffers from some very real challenges - parts of our infrastructure are creaking, we have considerable skills shortages and issues with housing availability.

'These are all highlighted in the report as areas where our need is not matched by current public investment. 'Of course, predicting the impact of public expenditure cutbacks on public sector employment at this time is difficult as we are still awaiting information on the form and focus of the cuts.'

EEDA's Public Insight report is available at www.insighteast.org.uk