RURAL police forces, such as North Yorkshire, fear budgets will be cut following the Brexit vote because Government funding favours towns and cities, a new report has concluded.

There is concern that money is allocated largely according to the number of crimes recorded in an area, not taking into account problems such as sparse populations and the lack of backup from mental health and services for the elderly.

North Yorkshire’s police budget for 2016/2017 is £153m.

Fears that the budget would be cut proved unfounded. However, after the Brexit vote there are renewed concerns a fresh review will change that.

Julia Mulligan, police and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire and chair of the National Rural Crime Network, which commissioned the report, is calling on a fair deal from the Government.

The study, conducted by academics at Plymouth University, urges the Government to look again at how funding is allocated.

The report says the Government appears to favour using the number of crimes recorded in an area as the basis for giving money, with funding disproportionately influenced by volume crimes such as shoplifting.

With far more of these crimes in urban areas, the academics warn they are not an accurate measure of policing demand, nor do they reflect the growing complexity of the work or the unique challenges in rural areas.

“The focus put on counting reported crime skews funding towards areas with high volumes of theft. As a consequence, rural forces with fewer such crimes will miss out,” said Ms Mulligan.

“It’s like allocating NHS money on the basis of the number of people in an area with a cough and cold. The more people, the more coughs and colds, but in no way does this take into account the complexity of serving the public properly.

"It’s a crude way of looking at a complex issue and is clearly going to throw up an unfair result.

“The Home Office is currently reviewing the way policing is funded and post-Brexit, the funding settlement we received last year is now in question,” added Ms Mulligan.

She says she will be pressing the Home Office for a fair deal.

Professor Sheena Asthana who led the investigation said a fresh start is needed because Government thinking relies too heavily on population and crime counts.

“The Government’s approach appears to sacrifice fairness in pursuit of simplicity,” she added.