West Midlands politicians have reacted with fury as it emerged a £300 million fund to help struggling councils is going to Conservative heartland shire counties and London.

This week the Government confirmed dramatic cuts to Birmingham funding which will force the city to make savings of £258 million.

Local Government Secretary Greg Clark told the House of Commons he was pressing ahead with cuts first announced in December, despite a campaign by city MPs and the Birmingham Mail urging him to think again.

And David Cameron was accused of a “shameless attempt to buy votes” after it emerged that most of the extra cash set aside to help councils cope with funding changes is going to Conservative areas - while Birmingham gets nothing.

Birmingham City Council is already making 1,200 redundancies within the next 12 months to cope with funding cuts.

In a bid to help councils the Government has pledged some emergency funding, but has refused to give any to Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Labour MP Steve McCabe (Lab Selly Oak) said: “It’s an outrage that while Birmingham is coping with the biggest cuts in our history the Government has decided to give millions of extra funding to wealthy areas like Buckinghamshire.”

But a Government spokesman said money was going where it was most needed – and the West Midlands already received high levels of funding.

Mr Clark has announced plans to distribute £150 million this year and the same again next year to local authorities hit by funding cuts.

Announcing the measure in the House of Commons, he told MPs the “transitional grant” would be targeted at councils which suffer the “sharpest reductions” in the main grant from central government, known as the revenue support grant.

Local Government Secretary Greg Clark
Local Government Secretary Greg Clark

Detailed figures published by the Department for Communities and Local Government show that none of this grant is going to the major towns and cities of the West Midlands, even though they face major cuts.

Instead, cash from the transitional grant is going to outer London boroughs such as:

  • Conservative-led Bromley, which receives £4.2 million in transitional funding over two years.

  • Conservative-led Kingston-upon-Thames, which receives £2.6 million.

  • Havering, where Conservatives are the largest group, receives £2.8 million.

  • Outer-London Sutton, where the Liberal Democrats are in charge and Conservatives are the second largest group, gets £2.6 million.

These areas are likely to be targeted by Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith as he campaigns for votes in the high-profile London mayoral election on May 5. Labour candidate Sadiq Khan is likely to depend on inner London boroughs for much of his support.

County councils also do well. For example, Conservative-led Buckinghamshire receives £9.2 million. Oxfordshire County Council, which covers the Prime Minister’s Witney constituency, will receive an extra £9 million over the next two years.

But in the West Midlands:

  • Birmingham gets nothing

  • Dudley gets nothing

  • Walsall gets nothing

  • Sandwell gets nothing

  • Coventry gets nothing

  • Wolverhampton gets nothing

Solihull, a Conservative-led council, gets £2 million over two years.

There is funding for rural areas in the wider West Midlands. Staffordshire County Council receives £5.6 million from the transitional grant, Shropshire County Council receives £1.2 million and Worcestershire County Council receives £5 million.

But inner city councils in the West Midlands receive very little help as they struggle to cope with cuts.

Birmingham City Council has warned 1,200 jobs could go in the next financial year as it attempts to save £250 million over four years.

Opinion: Unfair Birmingham council cuts hit those most in need of help

Mr McCabe has tabled a Parliamentary Question demanding answers.

He said: “It is obvious that this Government has it in for Birmingham, what I cannot understand is why. We are Britain’s second city but the Government seems hell bent on punishing the people of Birmingham.

“Their latest wheeze on increasing the police precept and adding the Osborne Tax for social care will see council taxes rise in some cases by around eight per cent. They’re stealing our money and making people pay more.”

A Government spokesman said: “The transitional grant is intended to mitigate the most significant reductions in funding, and this settlement will mean councils across the West Midlands will receive almost £17.4 billion over the next four years.”

Read more: Birmingham to add an extra 2% to council tax on top of annual rise