The Home Office may have to cut the overall number of police officers after Rachel Reeves ignored pleas for more cash for fighting crime.
The Chancellor is said to have ‘imposed’ a funding settlement on Home Secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday ahead of Wednesday’s Spending Review, after reaching an impasse in negotiations.
It came after she demanded more money for police forces, who have themselves warned that they will be hindered unless more money is forthcoming.
However Ms Reeves be believed to be planning to prioritise the NHS, education, nuclear energy and boosting defence when she unveil the multi-year financial plans tomorrow.
She today signed off £14.2billion for the Sizewell C nuclear power plant – more than 40 years after it was proposed – with the plant eventually powering 6million homes.
A source told the Guardian that cuts to overall police numbers remain ‘a possibility’.
Earlier this month, in a letter to the Prime Minister, Sir Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan Police, warned that cuts to police budgets will have ‘far-reaching consequences’.
But a Whitehall source told the Times: ‘Rachel imposed the settlement on Yvette in the end. Yvette pushed very hard but was told that there simply isn’t the money for it.’
The Chancellor is said to have ‘imposed’ a funding settlement on Home Secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday ahead of Wednesday’s Spending Review, after reaching an impasse in negotiations.
A Whitehall source told the Times: ‘Rachel imposed the settlement on Yvette in the end. Yvette pushed very hard but was told that there simply isn’t the money for it.’
Earlier this month, in a letter to the Prime Minister, Sir Mark Rowley , the head of the Metropolitan Police , warned that cuts to police budgets will have ‘far-reaching consequences’.
The Chancellor is due to lay out departmental allocations running up to 2029 – the likely timetable for the next general election – on Wednesday.
But the generous fiscal envelope set at the Budget last Autumn has been put under massive pressure by the economic slowdown, calls for more defence cash, and Labour revolts on benefits.
Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘The spending review is settled, we will be focused on investing in Britain’s renewal so that all working people are better off.
‘The first job of the Government was to stabilise the British economy and the public finances, and now we move into a new chapter to deliver the promise and change.’
On Sunday Technology Secretary Peter Kyle declined to rule out the prospect of a real-terms squeeze on areas such as policing.
He used a round of interviews today to say that ‘every part of our society is struggling’ and police were competing with various other sectors who have Chancellor Rachel Reeves for more money.
Sizewell C was first proposed in 1982 and, after years of paralysis, was given the green light by the Tories in 2022.
Ms Reeves will also confirm a £2.5billion investment in nuclear fusion research, while government sources said ministers would press ahead with proposals for ‘mini’ nuclear plants around the country. The Treasury said the funding would help create 10,000 new jobs.
The last time Britain completed a new nuclear plant was in 1987, which was Sizewell B. Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, is under construction but not expected to open until 2031.
