Huntington & New Earswick Councillors Keith Orrell, Carol Runciman and Chris Cullwick with fellow Lib Dems launching the petition.

Huntington & New Earswick Councillors joined fellow Lib Dems at the weekend to launch a petition against plans by the Conservative Government to cut police funding.

The Government is expected to slash the Home Office budget in this month’s Comprehensive Spending Review and is also consulting on changes to the ‘Police Funding Formula’. The North Yorkshire Police Federation has warned that the budget cut and formula change will see the county lose out. It has said that the combined cuts could see a reduction in police numbers and leave North Yorkshire Police with fewer officers than when the force was founded in 1974.

Lib Dem Cllr Ashley Mason, who is vice-chair of the North Yorkshire Police & Crime Panel, organised the petition against the cuts and is urging residents to sign in order to send a clear message to the Government. The ‘say no to police cuts’ petition can be found at: www.yorklibdems.org.uk/saynotopolicecuts.

Cllr Mason commented: “I am very concerned about the plans to cut funding for North Yorkshire Police. Although overall the county remains one of the safest places to live in the UK the recent increase in crime shows that we cannot take anything for granted and specific problems remain in York.

“These cuts could see police numbers fall dramatically. The Conservative Government needs to understand that it is not sustainable for fewer and fewer officers to be asked to do more and more jobs. If police numbers do fall much further then vital community and preventative work could be lost and the police could be down to providing an ‘emergency-only’ service responding to 999 calls and not much more. As a result crime and anti-social behaviour is likely to increase.

“I would urge residents to sign my petition to say no to police cuts. We need to send a clear message to the Government that we value the outstanding work the local police do and believe that York and North Yorkshire deserves a fair deal when it comes to national funding.”

It was revealed yesterday that six police and crime commissioners, including North Yorkshire’s, have threatened the Home Office with legal action over the planned funding formula changes.