Vulnerable children in Brighton and Hove are being shortchanged by £60 each under the government’s cuts programme, according to a parliamentary report.

Funding for services like Sure Start children’s centres, teenage pregnancy prevention and care for disabled children, is being cut by 22% next year and poorer areas are being hit harder than wealthy ones.

Research carried out by the House of Commons library found the Early Intervention Grant will be cut by £60 per child in Brighton and Hove while in East Sussex the cut works out to £50 per child, the same as the national average.

But West Sussex joins a handful of well-off areas like Richmond, Buckinghamshire and Surrey, with the lowest rate of cuts at £30 per child.

The parliamentary research along with a report by the families charities 4Children and the Daycare Trust that suggested 250 Sure Start centres across England could close while thousands of others provide a reduced service, sparked a row at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Labour leader Ed Miliband recounted David Cameron’s election claims that he was strongly committed to Sure Start, and urged him use his power to prevent closures.

Mr Cameron said: “Yes, we have made reductions in local government grant because, frankly, we inherited a complete mess in terms of this nation’s finances.

“But what we have done is ask every single local authority to make public every single bit of spending it does so that the public can make sure they are cutting bureaucracy, they are cutting allowances and they are cutting pay rather than cutting services.”