England’s 10 poorest council areas are being punished with funding cuts 16 times more severe than those made in Tory heartlands, Labour revealed yesterday.

Government support has been slashed by £782 for every home in the deprived local authorities since the Con-Dems came to power.

Families in Liverpool, Hackney, Newham, Manchester, Knowsley, Blackpool, Tower Hamlets, Middlesbrough, Birmingham and Hull have felt the worst effects of coalition cuts. All but one of the councils is run by Labour.

By comparison the 10 best-off areas — nine Tory councils and one run by the Lib Dems — have had their budgets cut by just £48 per household since 2010. Some Tory councils have even seen an increase. 

The shocking difference was revealed by shadow communities secretary Hilary Benn in a letter sent to all council leaders in England.

Mr Benn said that Labour would keep hacking away at their budgets, claiming that “tough times demand tough choices.”

But he insisted that Labour would make “fair choices” in comparison with the Con-Dems’ apparently politically motivated payouts.

“David Cameron’s government has made the wrong choices,” he said.

“It has ducked tough decisions and passed the hardest ones down to you, and has failed to apply the basic principle of fairness.

The coalition “had a choice, and it made the wrong one as far as communities up and down the country are concerned.”

From P1: Mr Benn compared Labour-run Newcastle council with Tory-run Wokingham council, revealing the real effect of the funding gap on people’s lives.

Both have similar spending power but Newcastle supports 101 children in care per 10,000 people compared to 24 for Wokingham council.

Spending on housing and homelessness in Newcastle is £145 per household compared to £48 in Wokingham, while concessionary travel costs the Tyneside council £85 per home compared to just £14 in Wokingham.

“How can anyone describe as fair a funding system that fails to recognise such large differences?” Mr Benn asked.

Tory Local Government Minister Kris Hopkins said councils must “do their bit” and hit back with a pathetic claim that Ed Miliband would reduce bin collections.

But the Con-Dems’ council cuts sparked an additional call for more power to be devolved to regions, with two Bristol University academics arguing for a fully federal Britain.

In a report for the Hannah Mitchell Foundation, Professor Jeffrey Henderson and Dr Suet Ying Ho said communities “cannot rely on Westminster” and that there needs to be “maximum devolution.”

They also expressed disappointment in Mr Benn’s “limited” plans to “pass power, money and responsibility” over areas such as social care, youth training and crime to councils.