Harrow MPs have repeated their council’s call for more funding in the face of “constant” government cuts.

Gareth Thomas, MP for Harrow West, brought the debate of financial contributions to Harrow Council to the House of Commons on Tuesday.

He was supported by his Harrow East counterpart, Bob Blackman, who suggested that more support should be given to areas suffering from businesses moving out.

Conservative Mr Blackman was not so critical of the Government and argued that the Labour-controlled council could do more to help itself.

But Mr Thomas was adamant that Government cuts are at the core of Harrow’s funding problems and called for change.

“The council faces a number of distinctive challenges in the delivery of public services, which the lack of central Government funding is exacerbating,” he said.

“In addition to the cuts in revenue support grant, further money has been required to fund growth as a result of demand pressures, including rising homelessness, increased special needs placements and rising social care costs.

“Moneys have also been needed to fund the impact of inflation, capital financing costs and other reductions in specific grants, such as those to support schools.”

He pointed out that Harrow’s grant has decreased by 97 per cent from seven years ago and noted that the borough is one of the poorest-funded in London.

Earlier this month Cllr Adam Swersky, responsible for finance at Harrow Council, announced a balanced budget.

But he too criticised government cuts and confirmed that, to cope with this, council tax will go up by almost five per cent in 2019/20.

“It was a very, very daunting picture but, through prudence, the need to be efficient and a willingness to make the tough decisions, we have a balanced budget,” he said.

“In terms of increasing council tax – if we are going to continue to provide the services that our residents rely on, then we really have no choice.”

Mr Blackman agreed that government support should be lent to the council to compensate for businesses leaving the borough.

But he argued that the council could be more “business-friendly” to help raise revenue from rates and urged it to sign up to a ‘multi-year settlement’ from the Government to enable better planning for the future.