West Midlands Police may have to find a further £24 million in Government-imposed cuts over the next two years following Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement.

The figure – a 20 per cent increase on a £126 million cuts package already in place – is likely to put paid to plans by Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Bob Jones to begin recruiting police officers for the first time in four years.

Mr Jones reacted with dismay to Mr Osborne’s announcement in the House of Commons, in which plans were outlined to cut Home Office spending by a further one per cent next year and potentially by two per cent in 2014-15.

Mr Osborne told MPs he would extend his austerity plans until 2017-18. Measures to tackle the country’s debts needed to be done in “a way that is fair”, he insisted.

West Midlands chief constable Chris Sims and the PCC must wait until the fine print of the Chancellor’s statement is released on December 19. Mr Osborne, who is expected to give details of grant settlements for police forces, has been lobbied by the West Midlands force for a “fairer” deal.

Both Mr Sims and Mr Jones have taken the Government to task over a damping mechanism which has the effect of

Continues…

Police Commissioner Bob Jones is involved in a race against time in an attempt to convince the Government to protect the West Midlands force from further damaging spending cuts.

Mr Jones, who became PCC a fortnight ago, has launched a Fair Funding campaign which seeks to make the case that the West Midlands is delivering substantially more than its share of Chancellor George Osborne’s austerity cuts.

And Mr Jones, a former Labour councillor, made no secret of the fact that his strategy is aimed at “wealthy” areas in the south of England like Surrey, where he believes the police force has been protected from harsh cash cuts at the expense of the West Midlands.

The Government’s formula grant approach to police force funding meant that Surrey, an area of relatively low crime, had been given

Continues…