POLICE forces in the region were under fire last night for hoarding £125m in reserves - enough to pay for 2,500 extra officers.

All four forces boast a "rainy day fund" far in excess of official guidelines, which require them to set aside a total of only £12.9m.

The worst offender is Northumbria, which has £80.9m in reserve, nearly 29 per cent of its £282m revenue budget in the last financial year.

The guidelines advise forces to set aside two per cent of their budget which, in Northumbria's case, would have been £5.6m.

But North Yorkshire, Durham and Cleveland forces all hoard far more than is required, according to Home Office figures released to MPs.

North Yorkshire had a reserve of £24.4m at the end of March - nearly 11 per cent of its budget, when only £2.6m was needed to meet guidelines.

Durham held £12m, or 10.4 per cent, instead of £2.3m, and Cleveland banked £7.6m, or 6.5 per cent, instead of £2.4m.

The Conservatives leapt on the figures, pointing out the cash was being held while the police levy on council tax had soared by 139 per cent since 1997.

Across England and Wales, police forces have £950m sitting in reserves - enough to pay for 19,000 extra officers.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "Council taxpayers have paid for 19,000 police officers that have not been recruited.

"It is important that police authorities keep some money in reserve, but at the moment we have a situation where hundreds of millions of pounds have not been spent.

"If we want to reverse Britain's trend of rising crime, we need to use this money to put more officers on the beat."

Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust, said: "This money, rather than just sitting in the bank, would be better used recruiting extra officers and fighting crime."

But North Yorkshire Police Authority hit back, saying it needed the reserves to plug a growing pensions liability deficit and to "meet unforeseen large events".

Jeremy Holderness, clerk to the police authority, said: "All the authority's reserves are earmarked for some business purpose, designed to put the authority and the force on a firm financial footing."

Northumbria has also claimed its reserves are to meet emergencies, while Durham said it was preparing for a retirement 'bulge', as well as for IT modernisation.

Patrick Melia, Durham's director of finance, said: "Over the next few years, the reserve will be reduced to about £5m and we will always keep it at a reasonable level as a standby for one-off situations."