THE Mayor of Greater Manchester has joined forces with his London counterpart to try and convince the Government to end the police funding crisis and the risk to public safety.

Andy Burnham and Sadiq Khan have written tot he Chancellor, Philip Hammond, ahead of the budget on November 22 urging him to end the real terms cuts to policing budgets.

Both cities have suffered terrorist attacks this year and there has also been an increase in crime and violent crime and the mayors are concerned that the police's ability to keep their cities safe and to prevent and respond to any future terrorist attack is being put at risk.

In Greater Manchester, the police service has faced cuts of £215m since 2010, which has resulted in the loss of 2,000 police officers, a 25 per cent reduction on 2010 levels, and 1,000 police staff.

Writing to the Chancellor today, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “As the mayors of London and Greater Manchester, we are extremely worried that the police’s ability to keep our cities safe, and to prevent and respond to the risk of future terrorist attacks, is being put in jeopardy by the current funding crisis facing forces across England and Wales.

“As you know, counter-terrorism experts are warning that the increase in attacks and attempted attacks this year is not a blip, but a sustained rise. And this is against the backdrop of crime rising across the country and violent crime rising even faster.

“We urge you to use the budget on 22 November to end the real-term cuts that our police service have undergone since 2010, and to put public safety first.

"To put it bluntly, if you continue with real-terms cuts you will be putting at risk the safety of those who live, work and visit our cities without an end to the years of real-term cuts.

“We implore you to use the budget to ensure the continued safety of the people who live and work in our great cities and the millions of visitors we receive each year.

"We need a real-terms increase in police funding, ensuring that the national and international work that the police in our cities do on behalf of the rest of the country is properly funded.”

In the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins spoke about the increasing pressure that GMP is put under.

He quoted figures showing that between 2010 and this year the force has lost 8,000 officers.