Cash blow for police

A ground-breaking three-year financial deal which put more bobbies on the beat in Rochdale is being threatened by the Government.

Council leader Irene Davidson will sign a letter of protest from all 10 of Greater Manchester’s leaders after a Government minister rang a police boss to say GMP’s budget is going to be capped because of overspending.

A deal was struck — with Government approval — in 2008 to increase GMP’s budget by 7.5 per cent for the three following years. It meant that more than 100 extra officers were hired across Greater Manchester.

But at a meeting of the Association of Greater Manchester Councils (AGMA) on Friday, Police Authority chairman Councillor Paul Murphy told the leaders that he had had a call from Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) minister Barbara Follett.

She told him that the authority had overspent by 3.5 per cent last year and would therefore only be able to increase next year’s budget by 1.6 per cent.

He said: “I am extremely disappointed that the innovation — which we believed was fully approved by the Government — is being denied to the people of Greater Manchester because the DCLG has misunderstood what the deal meant.”

A final decision on the move which will see Rochdale handing over many of its powers to a new Greater Manchester Combined Authority will be taken today. A vote on Friday was deferred after Stockport asked for more time to consider the proposals.