FUNDING for police services in the borough for 2019 have been slammed as "perverse and unfair" by Bury North MP James Frith.

His comments follow the recent publication of the Policing Settlement and a meeting between the MP and Greater Manchester's deputy mayor for crime and policing, Bev Hughes.

During the meeting Ms Hughes warned that the city region may lose another 600 police officers to fill a pensions funding Blackhole.

Greater Manchester Police is set to get £28 million from the settlement but has already lost almost £154 million in government funding between 2010 and 2018 and almost 2,000 officers were cut ­— Mr Frith's office reported.

He said: “I recently met with Bev Hughes, Deputy Mayor for Crime and Policing in Greater Manchester, to discuss the concerns expressed to me by the people of Bury, Tottington and Ramsbottom about crime. She shared my worry and assured me that GMP are doing everything possible within the resources they have. Unfortunately, the Policing Settlement announced this week will not help the police keep our communities safe and it is a poor Christmas present for our dedicated and hardworking police officers. The additional government money is a drop in the ocean compared to the cuts we’ve already seen and passing the burden of further increases on to hard-pressed Bury tax payers is perverse and fundamentally unfair."

The 2019/20 funding settlement has allocated an additional £161 million for regional forces, however police forces across the country have lost £2.7 billion in real terms since 2010. Police chiefs have warned that due to inflation cost pressures alone will reach £484 million in 2019.