Shadow minister for the Cabinet Office Liam Byrne has accused the government of favouring charities with links to the Conservative Party when giving out funding.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Byrne (pictured) cited Acevo’s estimate that the sector would lose £3bn in government funding, and asked: “How many jobs does the Minister expect to be lost in charities that do not have Conservative advisers at their helms or on their boards?

“To the untrained eye it seems that, worryingly, some charities are now more equal than others.”

In a supporting press release, the Labour Party highlighted the £500,000 given without competition to the New Schools Network, which is run by Rachel Wolf, a former education advisor to Michael Gove, and the secondment of three DCLG staff to the Big Society Network at a cost of £24,000.

It also questioned the £4.1m National Citizen Service funding given to the Challenge Network, a charity which Lord Wei helped to found through his social business the Shaftesbury Partnership, though the statement erroneously claimed that he sits on the Network’s board.

Responding to Byrne’s remarks, the minister of state for the Cabinet Office Oliver Letwin did not address the accusation of favouritism, but pointed out that more than three-quarters of charities receive no government funding, and said public service reforms would “see an expansion, not a reduction, in the sector and its activities”.