David Cameron joins campaign against his own cuts (according to his aunt)

PM's family have publicly supported a campaign against the closure of 44 children's centres in Oxfordshire

David Cameron wrote a letter to the local council leader says the proposed cuts were 'unwelcome and counterproductive' (Getty Images)

David Cameron supports a campaign against public spending cuts in his Oxfordshire constituency as a “family man”, his own aunt has said.

Clare Currie and Mr Cameron’s mother, Mary, have signed a petition against the proposed closure of 44 children centres by Oxfordshire County Council - and Ms Currie says the Prime Minister is against the cuts as well.

She told ITV News: “Well I know that he doesn’t want them to be shut either.

“You know, he’s a family man too - but they are just making such an error in taking the money away”.

She said she hoped the attention the campaign had received due to its connection to Mr Cameron’s family would make a difference “but [she] doubted it will”.

“I think the cuts are a great, great error. Please give us enough money to keep these important things open”, she said.

In November, Mr Cameron was accused of hypocrisy after he wrote to Oxfordshire council leader Ian Hudspeth branding the closures “unwelcome and counterproductive”.

He said he “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 [services]”.

In a six-page letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Hudspeth said the council had already made “significant” savings of £626 million since 2010/11 and had already taken out “as much from the back office as possible”.

He said the UK Government had cut Oxfordshire’s funding by almost 50 per cent over five years.

A spokeswoman said the Prime Minister had talked about the need to “manage public finances better through back-office savings” to continue to protect frontline services.

Oxfordshire council workers are due to stage a 24-hour strike next week in protest at the closures which Unite says is evidence of the council “turning its back” on children, young people and their families.

Additional reporting by PA