Police cuts: Forces will have to merge specialist firearms, cyber crime and fraud units, says Theresa May

Home Secretary will meet police chiefs from across England and Wales next month to draw up plans to pool resources

Armed police officers hold guns as they stand in Downing Street (Getty Images)

Police forces will be forced to merge their specialist firearms, cyber crime and fraud units as the search for more savings from their budgets intensifies, Theresa May has signalled.

The Home Secretary, who has yet to agree deep cuts to Home Office budgets with the Chancellor, George Osborne, will meet police chiefs from across England and Wales next month to draw up plans to pool resources.

Her announcement came as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, warned that the expected loss of 5,000 officers from his 32,000-strong force would undermine the fight against terrorism and gang violence.


 Home Secretary Theresa May is set to have budget talks with police chiefs next month (Getty)
 (Getty Images)

Ms May said that police forces had cut spending by £1.5bn since 2010 without the “roof falling in”, as she set out plans ahead of the Chancellor’s Autumn Spending Review for her department to “go on delivering more with less”.

She signalled that “complex and specialist capabilities”, including firearms, financial crime and cyber crime, could be shared between forces or transferred to regional organised crime units.

“It’s more than just about sharing that resource; it’s about making sure the resource is set at the right level within policing, be it national, regional or local level,” she said in a speech to the think-tank Reform.

She also suggested that civilians with highly specialised skills could be recruited for limited periods to help with complex investigations.

Meanwhile Sir Bernard said reductions to beat officers or police community support officers (PCSOs) could hamper the detection of terrorist plots, as police were increasingly acting on information from local people.

“The main reason people tell police officers or PCSOs is because they know them, they have got a trusting relationship and they trust them to do something about it. So it is a vital component,” he told the Commons Home Affairs select committee.

He also said a 5,000 cut in the size of his force would compromise operations to combat youth violence and gang activity.

Mark Sedwill, the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, apologised for the error in police funding calculations that led to the Government halting to the controversial process.

The blunder, uncovered last week by The Independent, meant many forces were given wildly wrong figures for their spending in 2016-17.

Mr Sedwill told the committee he was “embarrassed” by the mistake. “It shouldn’t have happened,” he said. “I need to find out why it happened.”

He added: “This was a serious error and it has inevitably disrupted the consultation process. I take this not only seriously, I take this personally. We shouldn’t have made the mistake. It was a serious error. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. We will correct it.”