May insistscuts will not stoppolicing ofstreet riots

The British public “don’t simply resort to violent unrest in the face of challenging economic circumstances” and it is “ridiculous” to suggest that savings could not be made in the police service, she said.

Mrs May took to the stage after Chief Superintendent Derek Barnett urged her to protect the service from the worst of the cuts to ensure it is kept “sufficiently resilient” to be able to respond properly to “widespread disorder” on the streets.

It comes after the Police Federation predicted it would be “Christmas for criminals” if 25 per cent budget cuts go ahead, leading to the loss of up to 40,000 officers and making it “inevitable” that crime would rise.

But Mrs May dismissed the concerns as “pure speculation”, saying: “Lower budgets do not automatically have to mean lower police numbers.

“The front line should be the last place you should look to make savings, not the first.”

And she added that more officers will not lead to less crime if their time is spent on the “pointless tasks of form-filling and chasing targets”.

She insisted: “The key to success is good management and leadership.

“We all know that there are efficiencies to be made in policing and it would be crazy to suggest that there aren’t.”

She added: “We are spending beyond our means and we cannot go on like this.

“We will help you by getting out of the way and stopping interfering in policing.”

Speaking at the annual conference of the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales in Cheshire, Mrs May said the Government will cut red tape and slash bureaucracy .

“That means getting your officers out from behind their desk and out on to the streets, where they want to be and where the public want them to be,” she said. “I want police officers to be crime-fighters not form-writers.”

Earlier, Mr Barnett urged Mrs May to ensure that officers feel valued as she oversees the most radical reforms to policing in 50 years. When there is “widespread disorder on our streets”, for whatever reason, it will be police officers who have to respond, he said.