Monmouth MP David Davies has demanded answers over why Monmouthshire County Council is facing a 4.4 per cent cut in funding from the Welsh Government despite the UK Government's annual block grant increasing.

The grant is given to Wales every year by the UK Treasury and from this the Welsh Government provides funding for local authorities.

Mr Davies has written to Finance Minister Jane Hutt questioning the amount of money being handed out to Monmouthshire County Council after figures he obtained from the Wales Office revealed the Welsh Government has seen increases in the funding it receives from Westminster.

In 2008-09, the block grant was £14,242 million and increased to £14,872 million in 2012-13. It is set to rise to £15,096 million in 2015-16.

"While I understand the need to make reductions in public spending and fully support the Coalition Government's economic policies to tackle the national debt, I cannot understand the 4.4 per cent cut that the Welsh Government is imposing on Monmouthshire County Council," said Mr Davies.

"This reduction in the annual settlement has in turn left the council with no choice other than to look at closing popular local services, including the libraries in Gilwern and Usk, in order to fill a £9 million budget shortfall.

"The Welsh Government will no doubt suggest cuts in local government spending are being forced on them by the Coalition Government's deficit reduction plan, but this is untrue.

"I demand to know where the Welsh Government has spent the increase in money it has received and whether it is being spent on pet projects, rather than on local authorities like Monmouth.

"The cuts are unfair on Monmouth considering it is the most fiscally well run local authority in Wales and already the lowest funded.

"I wonder whether the Labour-led Welsh Government is simply imposing cuts on the Conservative-led Monmouthshire County Council for political ends.

"Whatever the reasons, my constituents have a right to know why their public services are being put at risk by Monmouthshire County Council being forced to possibly shut valuable resources to bridge a financial gap created by the Welsh Government."

A spokesperson for the Local Government Minister, Lesley Griffiths, said: "These claims are just not right. The formula used to allocate funding to local authorities is developed using a range of indicators and takes account of the additional spend needed as a result of providing services to sparse and deprived populations.

"The formula is developed every year in partnership with Local Government, so to claim Monmouth has received an unfair allocation because it is a Conservative-led Council would be completely inaccurate and misleading.

"David Davies will know that his own party in the National Assembly have called for greater cuts to local government, and the education budget, which would see Monmouth much worse off.

"In real terms our Budget has in fact decreased from £16.2bn in 2009/10 to £14.2bn in 2015/16. This cut in funding has meant we've had to make some difficult decisions on our spending priorities."