CUMBRIA’S police and crime commissioner has revealed he hopes to make the case for an extra 200 police officers over the next three years.

Peter McCall, the Conservative PCC, confirmed that Cumbria would be getting 51 in the first tranche, but he would be arguing for another 150 on top of that.

He addressed the police and crime panel in Penrith on Monday.

Panel chairman Cllr Bill McEwan told him: “I’d like to know the commissioner’s views on this funding. Is the country getting 20,000 police officers or is it just a big gimmick?”

Mr McCall said the forces’ share was estimated at 140 over three years but he planned to argue for 200.

“The Government has been really clear they are going to allocate these in three tranches and the first tranche for Cumbria is 51, which would take us, together with the other increases we have managed over the last two years,  to an additional 96 in the bag,” said Mr McCall.

Cllr McEwan said the 20,000 officers would only replace those lost. The Labour councillor for Ormsgill said: “It’s not extra, it’s just what they took off the police last time.”

Cllr Helen Fearon, the Conservative member for Penrith West, denied that was the case.

“I would remind everybody that Cumbria hasn’t lost any police officers since 2012.” She said officer numbers had risen in that time from 1,120 to 1,145 and then 1,165 - because of a rise in the commissioner’s share of council tax.

With an extra 51 officers, police officer numbers in Cumbria would rise to 1,216 - believed to be the most the county had ever had, said Mr McCall.

He said other forces had decided to cut police officers during budget cuts but Cumbria Constabulary had reduced back-office staff.

Mr McCall said: “The big forces are now saying that they have lost the biggest number of officers and therefore they should get a bigger share.

“My response to that is no, that’s not how it works. The share of police officers should be based on the pain we have taken on the budget. we have taken the same pain and managed it better by preserving our frontline.”

Cllr Kevin Hamilton, mayor of Barrow, said it was ‘ludicrous’ that forces such as Cumbria could lose out against the larger areas which had far more officers.