Witney MP David Cameron has said moves to scrap Oxford's two-tier system of local government in favour of a unitary authority for the city were "gerrymandering" to give Labour a boost at the polls.

The new Department for Communities and Local Government is undertaking a review of the structure of local government and is due to publish proposals in a White Paper in October.

Oxford City Council, which is responsible for planning, waste collection and environmental health, wants to take over responsibility for functions carried out by County Hall, like education, social services and highways maintenance.

But the Conservative Party leader said reorganising councils risked "setting different groups of councillors against each other".

In an exclusive interview with the Oxford Mail, the Tory leader suggested ministers might be seeking to grant unitary status to Oxford because Labour was more likely to win power in the city than it was at county level, which is dominated by the Conservatives.

He said ministers had launched their review because they had run out of ideas and "to destroy a very effective and growing army of Conservative councillors who work very hard for local people".

He said: "When a Government has been in power for this long and when they're so out of touch and so arrogant about power, you do begin to suspect their motives.

"And I do wonder whether they are gerrymandering boundaries to suit their own purposes, which is what it feels like in Oxfordshire."

Mr Cameron added: "We went through this in the '90s when our (Tory) Government had run out of steam.

"We had a great big review of local government to see if we could encourage them to have single-tier authorities and we got a giant raspberry.

"And I think that's what it's getting all over again."

In May, the Oxford Mail reported that the city council had written a 26-page bid for unitary status so that its residents could "take charge of their destiny".

The document made a huge play of the lack of affordable housing and dearth of opportunities for widespread development in the city - issues certain to resonate with ministers.

Part of the submission, which was written by previous Labour city council leader Alex Hollingsworth and current chief executive Caroline Bull, read: "There is an important issue of local democracy at stake here."

Labour's Oxford East MP Andrews Smith said: "In claiming that allowing Oxford to run its own affairs would be biased against the Conservatives, he seems to be giving up the ghost on winning support in the cities - contrary to all he has been saying about the Tories needing to get back into them.

"My own support for a single council for Oxford is on grounds of public accountability - so people know who's responsible for what - and to avoid wasteful duplication. "

However, county council leader Keith Mitchell said: "If it ain't bust, don't fix it."