Hundreds of officers will be taken off the streets if the Government pursues plans being announced today to curb the spending of five police forces.

The Times has learnt that ministers will ask police authorities to account for sharp rises in the policing element of council tax bills in Cheshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Surrey and Warwickshire.

John Healey, the Local Government Minister, indicated last night that he would not shy away from another confrontation with the Police Service so soon after the row over officers’ pay.

“We have already made absolutely clear that there is no excuse for excessive council tax rises,” Mr Healey said. “We expect the average rise to be substantially below 5 per cent, and we will not hesitate to take capping action if necessary to protect taxpayers.”

Top of the list for budget-capping is Lincolnshire, which has raised its police precept by 78.9 per cent. If all five forces are capped they would have to abandon plans to recruit 400 officers. Budget cuts would particularly hit neighbourhood policing.

Senior police officers argue that they have had to seek more money through the council tax because of underfunding from central government. “The Government is demanding that we spend more on local policing, counter-terrorism and combating organised crime but they don’t want to pay for it,” a police source said. “If they force us to cut spending we will have to ask them, ‘What police work do you want us not to do?’”

In Cheshire, where Garry Newlove was murdered outside his home last year by drunken youths, the tax rise has been earmarked to provide £1.6 million for neighbourhood policing and £2.6 million to recruit 54 officers to deal with organised crime.

Surrey Police, ranked by the Home Office the joint top-performing force in the country, would have to trim £4 million from spending plans and drop a big operation to prevent criminals moving in and out of the county.

Plans to recruit more than a hundred constables in Leicestershire – which had to cut 30 officers last year because of budget restraints - would be abandoned if the cuts are imposed. The force also wants to strengthen its child protection unit. Byron Rhodes, chairman of its police authority, said: “We would have been able to stay within the 5 per cent limit had we received sufficient money from the Home Office.”

In Warwickshire the police authority has been drawing on its reserves to finance current operations. It says that the situation is no longer sustainable.

Lincolnshire says rural forces are penalised by the Government’s grant formula and that it receives the lowest funding per capita of any of the police forces in England and Wales.

The five forces will be given three weeks to present a case for the tax rises. Government will then decide whether to cut their budgets immediately or strictly limit next year’s plans.

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