BOLTON West MP Julie Hilling will today accuse Prime Minister David Cameron of devolving cuts rather than power in a speech to the Labour Party Conference in Manchester.

Just months after being elected, Ms Hilling, will take to the conference platform to show her anger at Mr Cameron for blaming Bolton Council for an £89,000 cut to Bolton Community Volunteer Service’s (CVS) funding.

Bolton CVS helps a variety of local voluntary groups and last month The Bolton News revealed that some of the smallest groups in the borough, many of which help the most vulnerable members of communities, were at risk from the funding cuts.

Ms Hilling will tell delegates today: “David Cameron talks glibly about the Big Society, but he seems to have no idea about how our society actually works.

“Doesn’t he know that there are millions of people already giving their time and energy as volunteers and that the cuts he has already implemented are driving voluntary and community groups to the brink of extinction?”

Earlier this month, in response to a question from Ms Hilling at Prime Minister’s Question Time, Mr Cameron said that she, and other MPs, should go back to their councils and urge them not to take the “easy option” of cutting funding to voluntary groups.

But, rounding on the PM, Ms Hilling will say: “They (Bolton Council) told me that Cameron is the person who cut the Area Based Grants, the very money that funded these groups.

“They told me they would do whatever they could to support voluntary groups, but cuts were inevitable. If you don’t have the money you cannot pass it on.

“We face a big challenge.

Cameron isn’t devolving power, he is devolving cuts. He talks of difficult choices — and then asks local councils to make them for him.”

In the run-up to the Labour Party Conference, former leadership candidate David Miliband also questioned how the cuts to public spending fit in with Mr Cameron’s Big Society.

Highlighting the plight of the Bolton Solidarity Community Association, which faces closure because of the cuts, Mr Miliband said: “David Cameron talks the talk with his so-called Big Society, but when it comes to the crunch, he is only too happy to slash funding for projects which enhance the quality of life in Bolton.

“People in Bolton possess a genuine appetite for voluntary work but need proper support.”