HUGE cuts to police budgets have hit some of the region’s forces the hardest, parliament’s watchdog confirms today (Thursday, June 4).

And it warns the Home Secretary risks “degrading services” with further massive cuts over the next few years, because she lacks information about their impact.

Central Government funding for forces has been slashed by £2.3bn – or 25 per cent – between 2010-11 and 2015-16, the National Audit Office (NAO) found.

Taking into account local council tax receipts, overall funding fell by 18 per cent in real-terms, on average.

But that funding plunged further in Durham (20 per cent) and Northumbria (23 per cent) – because those forces receive far more of their cash from the Home Office.

In contrast, the real impact of the cuts has been much less painful in Surrey (12 per cent), in Lincolnshire, Warwickshire and Norfolk (all (14 per cent) and in Dorset (15 per cent).

North Yorkshire has also lost 15 per cent of its resources, while Cleveland lost the national average of 18 per cent.

The conclusion echoes the overwhelming evidence that local councils across the North-East have been hit harder by town hall cuts.

And it follows a stark warning by Sir Huge Orde, the outgoing president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) that further cuts put forces in peril.

Durham police is receiving £86.3m in 2015-16 (down from £90.6m this year), Cleveland £92.9m (£97.4m), North Yorkshire £77m (£80.7m) and Northumbria £227m (£238.3m).

The NAO concluded: “The funding reduction required by individual force areas ranged from 12 per cent to 23 per cent, because of the variation in the proportion of central government funding.”

And it added: “The department has insufficient information to determine how much further it can reduce funding without degrading services, or when it may need to support individual forces.”

The Home Office should review funding in a way that “takes account of forces' local circumstances more fairly", the report recommended.

Ron Hogg, Durham’s elected police and crime commissioner said: “We receive only 23 per cent of funding through local council tax, with the remaining 77 per cent from the Government.

“This means that the severity of funding cuts places Durham at a clear disadvantage compared to the national figures.”

Barry Coppinger, Cleveland’s PCC, said his force would have an extra £8m more each year to spend - the equivalent of 160 police officers – with smaller cuts on the scale of Surrey’s.

He added: “The report from the NAO confirms that Cleveland continues to be disadvantaged by the current approach to funding cuts that are happening to police budgets.

“Policing has now born its fair burden of cuts and to cut further will hit frontline policing. There should be no further cuts.”

Today’s report comes weeks after Home Secretary Theresa May accused the Police Federation of “crying wolf” about the impact of fresh cuts, pointing out crime has fallen.

Critics pointed out the moral of the ‘boy who cried wolf’ story was that a wolf eventually ate the boy who claimed to see it.

But Mike Penning, the policing minister, said: “There is no question that the police still have the resources to do their important work.”