IN an article written for The Northern Echo this week, Durham’s Chief Constable Mike Barton emphasised the importance of community policing in the campaign against terrorism.

Today, that message was echoed in a leaked letter from senior police officers to Home Secretary Theresa May, warning against further large-scale cuts in police numbers.

Next Wednesday, Chancellor George Osborne will deliver his Spending Review and it is widely predicted to include 20 per cent cuts in police budgets.

In the light of the Paris attacks, and the killing of another 18 hostages in Mali yesterday, it is unthinkable that those reductions will go ahead.

We fully appreciate that the Government has committed to go on protecting the intelligence budget and investing in an even better SAS.

But the Government has to listen to the experts – the senior police officers who would have to cope with a Paris-style attack in this country.

And their clear view is that the level of cuts being proposed to mainstream policing would put public safety at risk. Britain would simply not be able to cope.

These are frightening times. The terror threat has never been higher and that means we need to be able to respond swiftly, in the right numbers, and with the right equipment, to be able to combat a major assault.

It also means that we have to make sure that we have officers at the grass roots, in our communities, where much of the most valuable work is done in gathering intelligence and identifying flash-points.

If it is true that George Osborne is planning cuts of 20 per cent in police budgets, he needs to go back to the drawing board over the weekend.

Now is not the time.