Boris Johnson is facing calls to set the record straight after claiming in Prime Minister鈥檚 Questions that there has not been a 40% cut to Transport for the North鈥檚 budget.
Labour also accused him of lying for wrongly saying in the Commons on Wednesday that he cut council tax in the capital by 20% during his time as London mayor.
Board papers for the transport body, which aims to boost connectivity in the North of England, said core funding from the Government would drop from 拢10 million in 2020/21 to 拢6 million in 2021/22.
Mr Johnson was asked by Labour former minister Dame Diana Johnson how the cut fitted with his plan for 鈥渓evelling up鈥 the North.
The Prime Minister replied: 鈥淭here has been no such cut. We intend to invest massively in Northern Powerhouse Rail, in railways in the North and across the entire country.鈥
But this is contrary to a funding letter Transport for the North says it received from the Department for Transport on January 4, despite having requested further funding.
Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: 鈥淓ither the Prime Minister thinks he can lie with impunity or he simply wasn鈥檛 aware that he has cut the budget of Transport for the North by 40%. It鈥檚 hard to know which is more damning.
鈥淲hatever the explanation, he should return to the House of Commons and put the record straight. The reality is the rhetoric may have changed but the Tory record remains the same 鈥 and it鈥檚 one of the North losing out under Conservative governments.鈥
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham was also critical of the Prime Minister, saying the cut was a terribly timed 鈥渂olt out of the blue鈥 which raised fears the Government wanted 鈥渢o turn down the volume on the northern voice鈥.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 build confidence in the North at this particular moment in time to see a budget cut of that size,鈥 the Labour politician said.
鈥淭he record I think will need to be corrected because there has been a cut. If the Prime Minister was unaware of that cut perhaps it might now be reversed which obviously would be welcome from our point of view.鈥
Also during Prime Minister鈥檚 Questions, Mr Johnson wrongly claimed to have cut council tax by 20% while the capital鈥檚 mayor, with City Hall confirming the figure was around half this for just one aspect of the fee.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pressed him on local authorities across the country facing a need to impose hikes to cover funding shortfalls.
The Prime Minister criticised the current mayor, Labour鈥檚 Sadiq Khan, for raising taxes, and added: 鈥淚 can tell him that the previous Conservative mayor of London cut council tax by 20%.鈥
The Greater London Authority (GLA) confirmed that Mr Johnson reduced the share of council tax the mayor is in charge of by 10.9% during his tenure, while the remaining portion is set by individual London boroughs.
A London Labour spokesman said: 鈥淪adly the Prime Minister has once again lied to MPs and the public 鈥 this time about his record on council tax as mayor.鈥
Downing Street declined to retract the remarks when told both the GLA and Transport for the North confirmed they were wrong.
Instead, the Prime Minister鈥檚 official spokesman said: 鈥淭he Prime Minister is always accurate when he is talking about such issues.鈥
