Police numbers in Scotland could be slashed due to Holyrood budget cuts, warns top cop

23.06.2022 - 19:01 / dailyrecord.co.uk

Police numbers in Scotland could be slashed as the national constabulary deals with a multi-million pound drop in funding, the country's top cop has warned.

Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said the policing budget "was not a priority" for SNP and Green ministers.

A Scottish Government spending review last month froze budgets across the justice sector over the next five years which means a cut in real terms as inflation soars.

Livingstone told a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) yesterday that he was concerned about the financial pressures facing the force.

READ MORE:Covid testing in Scotland could be ramped up as case numbers surge

He claimed that over the next five years Police Scotland will see a real terms cut in its budget of around £66 million.

Livingstone said: "In March we described the gap between expected capital funding and our necessary requirements.

"Anticipated capital funding for the next five years is £26 million less than required for our fleet, £20 million less than required for our estate, and £20 million less than is required for our digital division as we seek to digitalise policing.

"The position is not the revenue protection that we expected and that high cost-of-living crisis has the potential to increase the vulnerability of people while at the same time increasing pressure on the services which exist to support them.

The Chief Constable also warned that public services, including the police, will face "difficult and exhausting" choices in the coming years about where to allocate funding, and he warned this could lead to a situation of "disharmony".

He added: "It places additional strain across society and such pressures have the potential to lead to disruption, protest, disharmony.

"But of

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