Brown axe threatens 5,000 front-line police

Five thousand police officers are facing the axe because of a squeeze on public spending, the Government has been warned - according to the Sunday Telegraph.

The cutbacks would mean the loss of one in every 25 officers across England and Wales.

It follows a decision by the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, to freeze the Home Office budget.

The alert was sounded last week by the body representing police authorities, which are responsible for police finances.

Bob Jones, the chairman of the Association of Police Authorities, told a committee of MPs that job cuts would have to be made following a tough financial settlement this year, in which funding for forces rose by only 3.6%.

He said: "It is very difficult to make reductions of this size without looking at overall numbers of police officers. You could be looking at a move from 141,000 to 136,000 officers."

Confronted with the figures by MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee, Tony McNulty, the police minister, said: "There will be tight years ahead... of that there is no doubt."

The Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, warned that the removal of front-line officers would lead to rising crime rates.

Alan Gordon, its vice chairman, said: "Regrettably, Mr McNulty's comments came as no surprise to us.

"Chief constables are already recruiting cheaper civilians at the expense of police officers. A dramatic cut in front-line police will inevitably result in a rise in crime."

In January, this newspaper reported the concerns of Tim Brain, the Gloucestershire Chief Constable and spokesman on funding for the Association of Chief Police Officers, who warned that most police forces "will lose some police officers or police staff numbers".

Mr Brain told the committee last week that the police face a £656 million "funding gap" by 2009, rising to £966 million in 2011.

Ministers acknowledged that every £100 million taken from police budgets equates to the loss of between 2,000 and 3,000 police jobs - either officers, civilian support officers or administrative staff.

"The numbers I quoted are realistic and may even be conservative," Mr Brain said. "We will face severe operational challenges in the years ahead and could be looking at a decline in police performance."

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "More police on the streets means less crime. We've already seen the Government renege on its promise to provide 24,000 police community support officers, and now the public face even more cuts."

The funding gap discussed here represent a small proportion of the extra money the government has pledged to the European Union budget every year between now and 2013.

That will be an extra £2.5bn a year - a 60% increase over what we already pay - despite on-going reports of waste and fraud, and the inability of auditors to explain the "majority" of the EU's spending.

Are MPs really going to vote to approve the blatant waste of money that the EU budget deal entails, while police face such cutbacks?

That would be a very strange signal about their priorities to send to voters, which we will ensure will not be forgotten come the next election.