Representatives of Cumbria Constabulary met with MPs this week to highlight the effects a £350 million funding shortfall could have on the number of bobbies on the beat in the county.

Reg Watson, the chairman of Cumbria Police Authority, and Chief Constable Michael Baxter met privately with Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins and Penrith and the Border MP David Maclean to set out how the funding crisis could potentially hit local services.

Their trip to the capital was in response to added pressures being put on police authorities nationwide which means that an increase of 5.7 per cent in funding would be needed from the Home Office. But indications are that funding will increase by only three per cent for 2005/06. This combined with a cap on council tax rises to low single figures would leave a £350 million shortfall nationally.

"Central funding has fallen short of what we needed in previous years, but we have been able to make up the difference from local council tax," said Mr Watson. "We can't continue to do this, because the public are getting fed up of rising council tax, and the Government is threatening to cap increases. This means that without at least a 5.7 per cent increase in funding from the Government, cuts in police services may have to be made."

All police authorities will have to find extra cash to meet new statutory and policy responsibilities; implement the Government's police reform agenda; pay for IT and technological developments; and fund a national 12 per cent rise in the cost of pensions as a result of mass officer recruitment in the 1970s.

Mr Collins said it was difficult for the police to cope with nationally imposed targets that were not fully funded, without having to contemplate reductions in police numbers. He said Cumbria Constabulary had already been forced to cancel plans for a second tranche of additions to police numbers following recruitments last year.

"The fear is that if present trends continue we may see a return to the steady falls in police numbers in the county which we saw in the years up to 2001," said Mr Collins.

"I am determined to work with all the county's other MPs Labour and Conservative - to get a better deal for Cumbria in return for the very high taxes which we all now pay."

David Maclean said council tax payers should not be made to pay for government promises: "There's a lot more money in the police budget but it's not getting down to the front line because with national crime squads and centralised things it gets hived off to other causes."

Chief Constable Michael Baxter said the MPs expressed concern about the potential impact on local policing services in Cumbria.

"These were matters that they were going to explore and take further in Parliament and with ministers," he said.