IT does now seem that staff cuts of some sort will be inevitable for Lancashire Police.

The force says it needs £13.5million extra next year just to stand still but heard yesterday that the government's contribution will only be an extra £7.9million.

That is however an increase of 4.3 per cent over the current year and more than was forecast.

But it's not likely to be enough to avert the threat of cutbacks to the mounted branch, underwater search team and back office staff.

No one wants to see any reduction in the effectiveness of policing in Lancashire - except presumably criminals.

But the only other place the cash can come from is council tax payers but the increase needed would fall foul of the government's pledge to cap all such tax increases to a maximum of three per cent.

Chair of Lancashire Police Authority Baroness Ruth Henig says the only hope of avoiding cuts was a three month campaign to persuade the government not to cap large tax increases.

That's factually true but however much some people might want to pay extra for police services it does seem unlikely that the government would open the door to much bigger tax bills with a general election just over the horizon.