Theresa May comes under more pressure today over police funding as a cross-party committee of MPs warns that forces are “badly overstretched”.

The Home Affairs Select Committee published a report warning that police need more money. The Committee said: “We have no doubt that a failure to provide a funding uplift for policing would have dire consequences.”

It added: “Without extra funding, something will have to give, and the police will not be able to fulfil their duties in delivering public safety, criminal justice, community cohesion and public confidence.”

The Committee, which includes Conservative, Labour and SNP MPs, published the findings following an in-depth inquiry which included interviewing chief constables and police and crime commissioners from across the country.

It will add to pressure on Mrs May and Chancellor Philip Hammond to find more cash for police, and comes after a series of warnings about funding.

  • Dave Thompson, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, has warned that the force is “not pursuing crimes where we could find a suspect”, saying: “I think criminals are well aware now how stretched we are.”

  • The National Audit Office, the official spending watchdog, found in September that arrest rates are down and police are breathalysing fewer motorists because of funding cuts - and West Midlands Police is unfairly hit by a system which means it suffers bigger cuts than other forces.

  • Home Secretary Sajid Javid told BirminghamLive in an interview in September that “resources are an issue” for police, and has been pushing Mr Hammond to provide more money

  • Andy Street, the Conservative West Midlands Mayor, called for more funding in a BirminghamLive interview, saying: “The settlement for the West Midlands has been less favourable than for other areas. I hope the Home Secretary is able to win the case for better investment for West Midlands Police.”

Mrs May promised during the Conservative Party conference that austerity would come to an end and funding for public services would increase, but only after the Government spending review next year.

She repeated the comments in the House of Commons on Wednesday, when she said: “We will be setting out an approach in the spending review next year. What does it mean? I’ll tell you what it means: it means debt going down as a share of the economy and support for public services going up.”

However, Labour will accuse Mrs May of breaking her promise if there is no sign of an end to austerity in the Chancellor’s Budget on Monday October 29.

Mr Hammond is also reported to be reluctant to provide more central funding for police.

Chancellor Philip Hammond is said to be reluctant to provide more funding
Chancellor Philip Hammond is said to be reluctant to provide more funding

Instead, the Cabinet is considering scrapping the cap on police precept increases. This is a cap on the amount that Police and Crime Commissioners are allowed to add to council tax bills in order to fund policing.

The cap for the current financial year was £12 per household.

Scrapping the cap could mean increases per household of £50-a-year - a measure likely to be unpopular with council tax payers but which would provide a welcome boost to police budgets.

The £12 increase provided an extra £9.5 million for West Midlands Police this year.

The Home Affairs Committee report paints a damning picture of police forces that cannot cope with the demands placed on them.

The MPs said: “Forces are badly overstretched: the number of traditional volume crimes is rising, but the number of arrests and charges brought by the police is falling.

“Policing is struggling to cope in the face of changing and rising crimes, as a result of falling staff numbers, outdated technology, capabilities and structures, and fragmented leadership and direction. Without significant reform and investment, communities will be increasingly let down.”

While recorded crimes have risen by 32% in the last three years, but the number of charges or summons has decreased by 26%, and the number of arrests is also down.

Although the MPs identified funding cuts as a major problem, they also said that reforms to policing were needed.

Police needed to improve co-operation with internet service providers to fight child pornography, MPs said, and every police officer should be required to undertake at least two days of training in mental health issues.

Forces had also been too slow to embrace new technology, the MPs said.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said West Midlands Police were hit harder than other forces

However, they warned that the Government needed to provide a lead in pushing police forces to improve, and had failed to do so.

The MPs said: “Above all, policing is suffering from a complete failure of leadership from the Home Office. As the lead department for policing, it cannot continue to stand back while crime patterns change so fast that the police struggle to respond.

“Only a central Government department has the clout to drive national partnerships with organisations such as the NHS or with global internet companies, for example.”

The MPs called on the Government to launch a “transparent, root-and-branch review of policing”, publishing proposals by the end of February.

It also called for the creation of a National Policing Council and a National Policing Assembly, comprising all police and crime commissioners and chief constables.