THE North-East will never forgive the Government for the cuts to council budgets and the resulting impact on services, a North-East MP has told Parliament.

Speaking at a debate on local government finance in the House of Commons, Darlington MP Jenny Chapman told colleagues that Darlington Borough Council was having to close two libraries and the covered market because of its settlement.

Labour MPs this week accused the Government of favouring authorities in Conservative strongholds when it allocated an extra £300 million meant to ease the impact of funding cuts.

The Darlington MP said: "It is extraordinary what this Government have managed to do in pitting town against village, the north against the south, and the metropolitan areas against the shires. It is disgraceful.

"They have created division by the decision they made on the original settlements and then by finding this magic, back-of-sofa money. I have never known anything so deliberately partisan. I did not believe I would ever see anything like it.

"I hope Conservative members enjoy the extra funding that they will receive, because my town and the people in my town are angry. I have never seen them this angry before. They are angry about what is going to happen, but also about the unfairness."

At this point in the debate, Teesside-born Communities Secretary Greg Clark indicated he would like to speak.

But Ms Chapman continued: "I hope the Secretary of State listens to what we are saying and takes it on board. I know that he is familiar with my part of the country.

"He needs to think about the needs up there, because the people of the North-East will never, ever forgive this Government for what they are doing to our region."

However other MPs in the region welcomed the Government's allocations of extra cash.

Conservative Kevin Hollinrake, from the Thirsk and Malton constituency, said: "I warmly welcome this statement from the Secretary of State.

"My local authority, North Yorkshire County Council, will receive £15 million in transitional funding over the next two years, and my district authorities will receive £1.4 million.

"We hear cries of “Tory plot” from the Opposition, but my local authority was facing a 37 per cent reduction in its funding, compared with an average of 20 per cent for metropolitan authorities. What kind of Tory plot is that? This is about fairness."