CITY hall chiefs have been accused of refusing to reveal how much council tax cash is being transferred from richer to poorer parts of the Bradford district.

Shipley MP Philip Davies, whose constituency includes Menston and Burley-in-Wharfedale, criticised the Labour-run council for insisting the information – the revenue raised in each electoral ward – does not exist.

Yet Kris Hopkins, Ilkley MP and now a local government minister, said he was given the breakdown when he was Bradford’s leader from 2006-10.

The controversy was raised in the Commons by Mr Davies, who has repeatedly accused the council of making cuts in Tory areas while protecting services in its inner-city Labour heartlands.

The Conservative MP told ministers: “I have asked Bradford Council to supply details of the amount of money it raises in council tax from each ward across the Bradford district.

“I would have thought that would have been readily available information for any local authority, but Bradford Council keeps refusing to publish it, claiming that it does not even have it. We all know why – the council does not want to show how much is contributed in council tax from the Shipley constituency and how little goes back to that constituency.”

In reply, Mr Hopkins said: “As a former leader on the front benches of Bradford Council, I asked the same question and I was given that information.

“But of course that was under a Conservative-led administration, which wanted to be transparent about the amount of money that was raised.

“Bradford Council has nothing to hide from publishing these figures and letting people who make a significant contribution to the economy of the district know where their money is raised and spent.”

However, Bradford Council insisted it had not meant to be obstructive but said that its records were out of date.

It released figures revealing the estimated take for each ward – ranging from Ilkley (£9.38m) to Harden (£1.07m) – but admitted they were for “several years ago”.

A spokesman said: “The claims that we refuse to publish council tax collected per ward are not correct. Our records were created before the current ward boundaries were introduced. Furthermore, as new parishes have been formed, new areas have been created to allow a parish precept to be raised. This means it is not possible to show the amount of council tax raised per ward.”

Mr Davies called for a law change to force local authorities to “publish details of how much council tax they receive from each ward in their area”.