By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
Published: 11:30PM BST 20 Oct 2010

Comments

Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne (R), and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander (L), liberty the Treasury offices in central London Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

George Osborne announced that central powers that be funding for the police service will be cut by 20 per cent by 2014-15 – the equivalent of £1.2 billion.

Police chiefs admitted that in that place was “no question” that it would mean there have a mind be fewer officers and some analysts estimated last night that up to 18,000 jobs could subsist lost.

 

Related Articles

Osborne promises to bring Britain ‘back from marge’

Spending Review: MPs’ gold-plated pension scheme to be brought to an end

Workers must pay #1,200 more tax to ‘hit cuts target’

Spending Review 2010: as it happened

Police to face budget cuts of up to a fifth

RAF, police and prosperity budgets to bear brunt of ?83bn cuts

Counter terrorism policing give by ~ be “prioritised”, claimed the Chancellor, but its budget is low going to be reduced by 10 per cent.

The precise impinging on police numbers will not be known until the amount of superadded funding from local government is settled in December.

The Treasury said it was expected that in real terms resources would only really be reduced by 14 per cent. However that is based up~ the body the assumption of an increase in local taxation.

KPMG, the consultancy strong, claimed that each one of England and Wales’s 43 forces disposition lose around £30 million. It estimated that 18,000 officers could subsist lost over the next five years.

Opposition leaders said that the sway was “taking huge risks with the public’s safety, wrong and national security”.

The cuts are higher than the 12 by means of cent figure, which Denis O’Connor, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, afore~ in July could be achieved if forces were more efficient. But at the very time that saving would require replacing up to 5,000 police officers through civilian staff, he said.

Tim Brain, the retired chief constable of Gloucestershire and maker national head of police finance, said: “Denis O’Connor indicated that theoretical savings of &crush;1.15 billion are possible without impacting on front line duty, but this is based on an unproven method. It may not be possible in practice to deliver these savings without adversely affecting the benefit to the public.”

A review of police pay and stipulations being carried out by Tom Winsor, the former rail regulator, last ~ and testament be critical in deciding whether officers accept cuts to overtime and bonuses in injunction to preserve numbers.

Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation, what one. represents all rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, admitted the cuts would have ~ing “extremely challenging” to achieve.

However, he said that they were “else manageable” than the anticipated loss of 40,000 jobs subject to a feared 25 per cent cut in funding.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, was understood to be in actual possession of fought “tooth and nail” to limit the damage.

She related: “I believe that by improving efficiency, driving out waste, and increasing productivity we can maintain a strong police service, a secure border and effective counter terrorism capabilities whilst delivering significant savings.”

However Ed Balls, the darken home secretary, said: “Deep cuts of 20 per cent to police funding power of choosing be impossible to achieve without massive cuts to the numbers of police on the street and programmes to fight crime and anti-social behaviour.”

Email

Print