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Theresa May was forced to reassure Londoner about educational funding after he told her his daughter, a teacher, had to use her own money to pay for school supplies.

The Prime Minister was on a walkabout ahead of the May local elections when she met residents in Sutton, south London, on Saturday morning.

She told Mahendra Mehta that the Government is boosting school funding and promised she was focussing on making sure there was a fair distribution of resources.

Mr Mehta, 68, said afterwards that he was sorry his daughter, a teacher at Westbourne Primary School, had not been there to meet Mrs May to raise the issue herself.

The semi-retired accountant told Mrs May: "The thing is she finds the funding is the problem - I mean, she spends her own money to buy things."

Mrs May responded: "We are putting some extra funding into our schools and trying also to ensure that it's a fairer distribution in schools."

Mr Mehta, who said he voted for the Conservatives in the general election, said he believed Mrs May is "trying as best as she can" in what he described as "a difficult position".

Mrs May met with other residents who were out gardening and car-washing in The Dene as she accompanied Sutton and Cheam MP Paul Scully for the walkabout ahead of the London local elections in May.

A dressed-down Prime Minister, sporting leopard print trainers, heard from a retired GP who told her he was a Liberal Democrat voter.

Chris Raulrajah, 73, said after the visit: "I said I worked in the NHS for 40 years so I am quite passionate about it. Both of them agreed, she nodded."

Retired carer Margaret Wright, 68, said she was taken by surprise as she saw Mrs May approach while she cleaned her car.

"It was quite a surprise," she said. "It is actually nice to see people face-to-face."

She joked that Mrs May had been lucky her son was not around for the visit. "He is so not a Conservative," she laughed.