Carl Bildt furious after the government's budget was voted down.

• Sweden to open ten embassies and close six
• Sweden shuts down New York and LA consulates

Some ten Swedish embassies will be shut down after the parliament voted to tighten the government's civil servant budget.

The country’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was all but happy after the opposition voted down the center-right government, its first defeat since the September election, Swedish Radio said Friday. The red-green opposition vote in favour of the budget cuts together with the far-right xenophobic Sweden Democrats.

"Populist in Parliament decided to cut funding to Foreign Office. We must now start closing a number of embassies abroad. Idiotic in extreme." Carl Bildt wrote in a Twitter message.

Almost half of the cut in the budget – totaling 300 million kronor ($43 million) – will be taken from the foreign ministry, which will have strong consequences on the country’s representation abroad, Bildt said.

Also Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was upset after the defeat, slamming the opposition parties as irresponsible and not honest with the public.

“I can tell the Swedish people that it is impossible to save 300 million Swedish kronor on any business, not in a private company, not on Swedish Radio, not in any public area and then claim that it has no consequences,” Fredrik Reinfeldt told Swedish Radio. “This is what irritates me. Be honest with the Swedish people and take responsibility for what you are doing.”

Last year the Swedish government decided to close its Embassy in Colombo and the Consulates-General in Kaliningrad, Canton, Los Angeles and New York. At the time Carl Bildt said that the close-downs are a necessary part of balancing the Ministry for Foreign Affairs budget, blaming the previous Social Democrat government for building up a massive budget deficit in the foreign ministry.

In January the minister announced that the government will open ten embassies and shut down six in a move to find a new way of maintaining bilateral contacts in the future.