PARENTS who live in non-Labour areas are being discriminated against, a top councillor claimed last night.

Kirklees Council’s Labour Cabinet is running down children’s centres and libraries in wards where few voters support the party, according to a leading Tory.

Denby Dale Conservative Clr Jim Dodds believes areas without Labour councillors are being unfairly targeted for cuts.

“I appreciate we are in difficult financial times but the Labour administration is clearly hell-bent on looking after their own and entering the murky world of postcode politics, which I find unacceptable,” he said.

The Labour Cabinet is in the middle of implementing controversial changes to children’s centres and libraries in Kirklees.

The council hopes to save £1.4m by 2013 by reducing services at 17 Sure Starts in richer parts of the district.

Parents in those areas would have to travel to one of the 15 children’s centres in poorer parts of Kirklees to get the full range of services.

Clr Dodds said the Sure Starts being spared cuts were overwhelmingly in Labour-dominated areas.

“Ten of the 15 centres are in Labour wards,” he said.

“I accept that these centres were introduced to help in the most deprived areas, but deprived areas are not exclusive to Labour wards.

“We seriously need to revisit these proposals and produce a structure that accommodates the whole of Kirklees. The council’s aim should be to produce common standards of services accessible to all residents, not postcode rationing to suit the Labour Cabinet.”

The Conservative also believes the ruling party is discriminating in its library cuts.