A REPRESENTATIVE of rank and file police officers has said MPs should question the Home Secretary and Prime Minister on why there are fewer officers patrolling the streets rather than blaming forces

Thames Valley Police Federation secretary Clive Benson said he was "incredibly frustrated and disappointed" by comments made by MPs about a lack of bobbies on the beat.

Mr Benson said: "When we spoke to our MPs they didn’t listen.

"But when they have a point of view which is based on what could be seen as ignorance of the real situation they come out with simple, one line sound-bites which are incredibly hurtful to officers across the country.

"We have suffered some huge cuts, and it will affect our ability to deal with demand that we’ve got, which isn’t changing.

"So when an MP comes out and criticises an individual chief of force to say, ‘Where are your officers?’, the answer is actually that we should be going back to that member of parliament and saying, ‘Officers aren’t here because your government decided to reduce the funding to us’.

"It seems a bit rich that they’re actually blaming us as opposed to their own Home Secretary and Prime Minister.”

His comments came after Conservative Party MP for Ribble Valley Nigel Evans took to Twitter this month to call on his force to provide more police on the beat in rural areas across his constituency.

TVP Chief Constable Francis Habgood has said the force could lose another 100 officers and 200 staff before 2020 as part of plans to save £15.6m.