PRIME Minister David Cameron has been accused of hypocrisy and breaching the ministerial code after writing to his local council and police force criticising their methods of service cuts, despite the government urging public services to tighten their belts.

Labour has demanded a probe by the Cabinet Secretary over whether Mr Cameron broke the rules by offering to use No 10 staff to benefit his constituency.

The Oxford Mail broke the story that The Prime Minister wrote to Ian Hudspeth, leader of Oxfordshire Council, in his capacity as MP for Witney expressing "disappointment" at the way savings were being achieved. Soon after, the BBC reported that Mr Cameron had also written to Thames Valley Police urging them to find savings elsewhere, rather than shutting police houses in his back yard.

In the exchange of letters with Mr Hudspeth, Mr Cameron wrote: "I was disappointed at the long list of suggestions floated in the briefing note to make significant cuts to frontline services - from elderly day centres to libraries to museums.

"This is in addition to the unwelcome and counter-productive proposals to close children's centres across the county.

"I would have hoped that Oxfordshire would instead be following the best practice of Conservative councils from across the country in making back office savings and protecting the front line.

"In that context, I would be happy to initiate a further dialogue with individuals in the Number 10 Policy Unit and yourself. Please contact Sheridan Westlake (address) if you wish to take this up."

Mr Hudspeth replied that the council had already cut its back office functions, looked at shared services, reduced staff numbers by thousands and disposed of property.

He pointed out new functions that had transferred to the council, including public health and social care.

"Excluding schools, our total government grants have fallen from £194m in 2009/10 to £122m a year in 2015/16, and are projected to keep falling at a similar rate," he said. "I cannot accept your description of a drop in funding of £72m, or 37 per cent, as a 'slight fall'."

Mr Hudspeth also said he had "worked hard to assist you in achieving a Conservative majority".

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jonathan Ashworth has written to Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood asking for a ruling on whether the ministerial code was broken.

The code says: "Ministers are provided with facilities at government expense to enable them to carry out their official duties."

"These facilities should not generally be used for party or constituency activities," it adds.

Elsewhere, the Prime Minister is reported to have attempted to prevent the closures of police stations in his constituency as £60m worth of Government funding cuts were being implemented.

The BBC claims he privately urged Thames Valley Police force to find savings elsewhere, rather than shut stations in his Oxfordshire constituency of Witney.

Shadow Cabinet Minister Jon Ashworth said the incident showed that Mr Cameron was “completely unaware" of the impact spending cuts were having on communities.

He said: "I think it's jaw-droppingly hypocritical from the Prime Minister because the reason these services are being cut in his constituency is because he is cutting them.

"He is the first lord of the treasury, he is the man who is signing off George Osborne's cuts plan, so I'm surprised that the prime minister is so out of touch with what the impact of these cuts would mean that he is now lobbying organisations in his own constituency against the very cuts he is implementing."

Defending Mr Cameron’s action, Number 10 said he was acting in his capacity as the local MP to protect frontline services.