A DAMNING National Audit Office (NAO) report lays bare the government’s “wilful indifference” to the police funding crisis, Labour said today.

Whitehall’s spending watchdog warned that overall funding to forces has fallen by 19 per cent in real terms since 2010-11 while police confront rising levels of recorded “high-harm” crimes and a heightened terrorist threat.

The NAO added that the Home Office’s “light touch” approach meant it did not know whether the police system was financially sustainable.