UK police chief warns of ‘massacre’ if major terror attack launched outside London

Police and the public would be “massacred” if a major terror attack was launched outside London, a policing boss has warned.

Pressure is mounting on the British government to curb cuts to budgets amid stark warnings from police chiefs and commissioners about how they will cope with a significant assault.

A private letter to the Home Secretary from senior officers has warned that a reduction in officer numbers would “severely impact” on their ability to respond to a Paris-style attack.

Labour has called on the Government not to inflict swingeing cuts on police forces as details of next week’s spending review, which is set to squeeze budgets further, are finalised.

Kevin Hurley, Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey and former head of counter-terrorism for the City of London Police, claimed police responding to a terror attack outside the capital would be “massacred”.

He told the BBC: “The people would be massacred. The first responding police would also be massacred.

“And eventually we would mobilise sufficient assets from the police but with major military support.”

He warned that police would be out-gunned by people with automatic weapons such as the AK47.

“All our armed response units carry single shot rifles,” he said. “The last time we sent single shot riflemen against machine guns was in the First World War.”

Mr Hurley said there were “nowhere near” enough armed police with the weapons they needed to deal with the threat.

“If you keep cutting the police budget as badly as it’s been done so far, it will not be possible to deal with it,” he added.

Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham has warned that savings above 10% would be “dangerous and put public safety at risk”.

In a letter to Theresa May, he said: “Given the events in Paris last weekend we repeat our belief that it would be unwise to ask the police to deliver further difficult savings above 5% over the next five years.”

He added: “Reductions in mainstream policing will not only significantly impact on the ’surge’ ability of the police to provide the additional support required at an emergency incident, but cuts to neighbourhood policing will have a detrimental effect on local intelligence gathering and countering terrorism.”

Downing Street said details of the settlement for police would be announced in next week’s spending review.

“We are absolutely clear we will do everything necessary to keep our people safe,” the Prime Minister’s official spokeswoman said.

A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokeswoman said: “Following the tragic terrorist attack in Paris last week, we have been reviewing our ability to respond to a well-organised, multi-sited terrorist attack in the UK. Our officers are well trained and equipped and we are constantly evolving to meet the threat from terrorism.

“As you would expect, we are discussing our capacity to respond to an attack like the one in Paris with the Government. These discussions include assessments of the number of officers we have to counter terrorism and the impact of future funding cuts.

“We do not comment on leaked documents, which form part of these important discussions.”