By politics.co.uk staff

There is a financial black hole of half a billion pounds in the country's police forces, according to figures seen by Labour.

The party said figures obtained from police forces and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) show the current budget gap for forces in England and Wales stands at over £500 million – equivalent to thousands of police officer jobs being lost.

"The home secretary and prime minister are out of touch with how bad it is for police forces across the country," shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said.

"When the police funding allocations are published this month the government need to urgently change course."

The financial gap is the difference between government cuts to the police service and the savings forces have been able to identify so far.

The Met, which makes up £226 million of the gap, has already admitted it cannot maintain current officer numbers without "significant additional resources".