THE plight of the £12.5m cuts facing Darlington could be debated in the House of Commons as the town’s MP says she “will use all avenues” to raise the topic in Westminster.

Darlington Borough Council announced budget measures this week that could see the closure of the borough’s libraries and covered market along with massive reductions to swathes of valued council services.

The town’s MP Jenny Chapman has been working with Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson to ensure the matter is brought to the Government’s attention while a petition launched by The Northern Echo to protect Darlington from the crippling cuts had last night attracted nearly 5,000 signatures.

If the petition reaches 10,000 signatures then it must be acknowledged by the Government while Ms Chapman intends to table an Early Day Motion in parliament on Monday to bring the matter to the attention of Westminster MPs.

She said: “This affects every constituency in the North-East, this isn’t just a matter for Darlington.

“Darlington has been the first to release detailed (budget) announcements but other councils will be doing the same in the coming weeks and months.

“As far as parliamentary processes go, I can table an Early Day Motion on Monday as the House rises and I know that I will get support from all the Labour colleagues in the North.

“The idea behind the petition is that we use that to look for a debate on the floor of the House to discuss Darlington and challenge the government’s way of funding local authorities.

“But there are other mechanisms we can use for a debate to challenge the funding for the North more generally, so we will use every avenue open to us to try to persuade the government to look again at the settlement for Darlington.”

Mr Wilson said Darlington Borough Council was “brave” in demonstrating how badly funding cuts were affecting services, adding that North-East MPs would “stand together” in challenging the Government.

He also criticised the cuts being enforced by central government, saying he believed they were “ideological instead of economically necessary”.

The reductions imposed by the Government to Darlington Borough Council’s budget since 2010 means it will have lost £44m in funding by 2020.

The Northern Echo's petition calling on the government to reconsider its funding formula can be signed via https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/120696