HEXHAM’S MP Guy Opperman has been accused of censorship, following claims that comments made by constituents on school funding, were removed from his social media page.

Prudhoe mum Becca Irving claimed she replied to a post on Mr Opperman’s Facebook page last week, in which the MP praised the government’s decision to invest £1.3bn into schools over the next two years.

Mr Opperman welcomed the news, stating that according to government projections, funding per pupil would increase by at least £255 in Northumberland.

In his Facebook post, on July 19, he said the move would lead to fairer funding for schools in Northumberland. Mrs Irving said her Facebook reply, in which she raised concerns about whether the funding was new money, was deleted.

She said: “I wasn’t the only person to have comments deleted. None of these were offensive or abusive in any way. As an MP, Mr Opperman must be accountable to his constituents. If he wants to have a Facebook page, he must either be accountable on there, or not have a page at all.”

A Conservative spokesman insisted that Mr Opperman was accountable, and stressed that constituents can contact him via email, telephone or post.

But he claimed that posts on the MP’s Facebook page, which was managed by volunteer members of the Hexham Conservative Party, had become a target for political opponents.