A TEESSIDE MP has claimed that "public safety is being jeopardised" by further cuts to Cleveland Police's budget.

Last month, Cleveland's Police and Crime Commissioner, Barry Coppinger, confirmed that the force faced further cuts of £4.5m or 5.1 per cent during the period 2015/16.

Mr Coppinger, Labour, said that meant that the Government grant has been cut by nearly £24m since 2010/11, or £35m once inflation was taken into account.

He called on Teesside's politicians to take the force's case for more funding to parliament

Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North, addressed Home Secretary Theresa May in a Westminster debate saying it was an "an unrealistic proposition" for police officers to do more with less money.

He said: “There has been a net loss of 293 police officers from the Cleveland police service since 2010 and our police commissioner says that the budget has been cut by another 5.1 per cent, which could further jeopardise public safety.

“Does the Home Secretary agree that such losses and cuts are the reasons behind the drop in confidence in policing for the first time in a decade?”

In response, Mrs May said police reforms were working and the proportion of police officers serving on the front line had risen to more than 90 per cent. Crime, she added, had fallen by more than a fifth across the country in the last four years.

While Mike Penning, Minister for Policing, told Mr Cunningham that crime in Cleveland had dropped by 16 per cent in the past four and a half years and by another two per cent this year.

“Cleveland police should be congratulated, not run down,” he said.

Speaking after the debate, Mr Cunningham said: “Despite already facing savage cuts, police forces around the country have been told to prepare for more of the same during the next parliament.

“It is extremely worrying that the Association of Chief Police Officers is estimating that a further 6,000 frontline officers will need to be cut to meet budget reductions between 2015-17.

“Even more alarmingly, I understand that the Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police has written to the Home Secretary warning that current funding arrangements will result in his force becoming unsustainable by 2019 and identifying a real risk that his may be the first force to fall.

“I am in no doubt further cutting of policing budgets will further decimate our police forces and place even more pressure on a service already under-resourced and overstretched.”