IT’S time that there was an urgent cross-party approach to ending the annual damaging cuts to the nation’s police numbers, and the nonsense of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary continually standing up in Parliament stating that the reduction of thousands of police officers is not having a negative effect on crime in the community and our future national security.

We live in a troubled world that is seeing an increasing number of innocent and defenceless people losing their lives to radicalised terrorists in a warped and evil version of the Muslim religion.

Let’s not forget that hundreds of thousands of defenceless peace-loving Muslims, including women and children, have been brutally murdered by these extremists over many years.

We know that throughout the North-East and the rest of the UK we have many Conservative MPs and councillors who are very concerned about the government’s continuing cuts to police numbers.

All these cuts are inhibiting our police and armed forces from adequately defending British citizens at home and throughout this troubled world we now live in.

Party politics must be put on hold and all politicians should unite in a UN-led global strategy to disable these terrorist groups.

Ken and Pat Walker, Middlesbrough