AN MP has told a veteran councillor to get her “head out of the sand” and face the reality of homelessness in a town after being accused of giving an unfair impression about the situation in the House of Commons.

As statistics revealed a growing number of rough sleepers across the UK, reflecting a rise of 13 per cent in the North-East, MP Jenny Chapman called on Darlington’s Conservative leader Councillor Heather Scott to take her party to task on homelessness.

Ms Chapman told a Parliamentary debate earlier this week that the number of rough sleepers in her constituency had “doubled”, and later said she had been referring to recent Government figures that showed a rise from none in 2010 to five in 2016/17.

Following the debate, Darlington’s council said the town currently had no rough sleepers but had had more than 1,000 people reporting being homeless or at risk of homelessness during this financial year.

Cllr Scott said Ms Chapman’s contribution to the debate could be construed as misleading.

She added: “We do not have a major problem in Darlington, homeless people are dealt with well, there is accommodation for them.

“There is a lot of speculation about what could happen when Universal Credit comes, but there are safeguards in place.

“There are a lot of Labour politicians speaking about this at the moment and it is purely political.

“It was not fair to suggest that homelessness is a significant issue in Darlington and its council leader has previously reiterated that we do not have a problem – her comments seem to be in opposition to her own Labour colleagues on the council.”

Ms Chapman said official figures for rough sleepers did not reflect the levels of hidden homelessness in the town, such as the number of people sofa surfing, squatting or living in insecure accommodation.

She also fears the problem will worsen in the future.

Ms Chapman said Cllr Scott was “completely out of date” on the issue, adding: “She needs to take her head out of the sand and look around at what is really happening.

“You can pretend that everything is marvellous if you like but the people living in Darlington know there are issues.

“Levels of rough sleeping may not be the same here as in other cities and I accept that but it does not mean there isn’t a problem - the council’s figures about those presenting as homeless are deeply troubling.

“There are good services in Darlington but when you see the issue rising across the country, it shows that something is going very badly wrong.

“I would far prefer it if Cllr Scott made a case to her own party in Government about the issue.”