Some police authorities fear they may have to cut staff numbers

A survey of 14 police authorities showed a large number faced shortages, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said.

The authorities hit may need to cut staff because of holes in their budgets, the Tories are warning.

But Home Secretary David Blunkett said the Tories would cut real-terms spending from the Home Office budget.

'At odds'

The Association of Police Authorities said there was "real concern" with shortfalls set to reach �350m in 2005.

Mr Davis told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "A large number of authorities are saying they are going to face shortages in next year's settlement."

If the number of office staff are reduced, he said, there will be less officers on the beat as "policemen are pulled back into offices to do bureaucratic stuff".

Results of Tory police authority funding survey Greater Manchester - looking for improved settlement Kent - �19m gap predicted but some efficiencies can be found Thames Valley - predicting tight budget Gloucestershire - expecting low settlement Devon and Cornwall - predicting �5m funding gap Essex - problems with "one-off" costs Surrey - predict problems in overcoming any shortfall Derbyshire - predicting shortfall Metropolitan - predicting �60m savings needed for balanced budget Warwickshire - predicting some problem Suffolk - �6m deficit predicted Northamptonshire - �1.7m funding shortfalls predicted Cambridgeshire - �1.7m shortfalls predicted Norfolk - �7.8m deficit predicted Durham - no shortfall Merseyside - no shortfall Hampshire - no shortfall North Yorkshire - no shortfall

"That is clearly at odds with the approach the government says it wants to take," Mr Davis added.

Among the forces facing the worst financial difficulties, according to the survey, is Kent which says it will have to find an extra �19m and Norfolk which is looking at a �7.8m black hole.

But forces in Merseyside and Hampshire, for example, appear to have few financial difficulties.

Norfolk Police Authority says it may have to lose more than 100 officers to meet the budget shortfall.

Its spokesman Jim Wilson, who is also spokesman for the Association of Police Authorities, said forces were facing a "three-way squeeze" of Home Office demands for better policing, efficiency savings from the Treasury and calls to keep demands on council tax low from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

He also called for "greater flexibility" from central government so authorities could make "better use" of the funds they are given.

"If all the money came to us directly and we had greater flexibility with its use maybe it might be a better picture," Mr Wilson told Today.

The Tories argue forces find their "hands tied behind their backs" by the imposition of too many government targets and too much bureaucracy on officers.

Increased funding

They are pledging to fund an extra 40,000 police officers to tackle crime and reduce centralised demands on forces.

However Mr Blunkett said: "When Michael Howard was Home Secretary he promised to increase police numbers but then cut them by 1,132.

"Today's Conservatives are no different. They say they will deliver more police but the reality is that they are committed to cutting �1.6bn from the Home Office budget.

"The Conservatives must say where the axe will fall. How many police officers, Community Support Officers and CCTV schemes will they cut?"

Police numbers have risen to record levels, up 10,000 in two years, and as a result of this year's Spending Review the number of Community Support Officers was set to top 20,000, he said.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "The Tories have no properly costed solutions to local government funding problems.

"They can't even fund their wild claims to increase police numbers by 40,000 without putting asylum seekers on a fictional desert island."