The admission, which was made by Margaret Hodge, minister of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, revealed a host of pressures facing the UK library network.

According to a report in The Independent, councils are looking to cut library budgets, leading to a lack of funding for new books, job cuts, forced cuts to pay and opening hours, and closures.

According to The Publishers Association, UK libraries spent in excess of £160m in 2004/05, the most recent figures available.

The news will not be welcomed by the government, which has named 2008 as the National Year of Reading.