NORTH Yorkshire Police hit back yesterday after a report warned it had made little more than half of the cuts required after savage funding review.

A study by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found that the force will have to save £28.4m between 2011 and 2015, because of the Government’s spending squeeze.

North Yorkshire had so far identified savings of only £15.3m, the HMIC said – leaving what Labour called a “black hole” of £13.1m.

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s home affairs spokeswoman, said this made further cuts to police officer numbers inevitable, because forces typically spend 85 per cent of their budgets on personnel.

Across England, the black hole stood at £500m – a sum equivalent to 15,000 officers – although nearly half of those additional cuts would have to be made in London.

But a spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said the force had already cut 313 posts to make significant savings.

And he said: “The crucial thing is that North Yorkshire Police have already made the necessary savings and reorganisation to balance the budget for the current and next financial years.

“Plans are being advanced to break even for the remainder of the four-year comprehensive spending review period.

“The ‘black hole’ has therefore already been significantly reduced by decisive action by the chief constable and his strategic leadership team, while not compromising service and performance.”

Home Office allocations to each police force for the financial year 2012-13 will be made as early as tomorrow.

However, a rethink on the scale of the cuts to police – about 22 per cent in real terms, over four years – is highly unlikely, given the economic gloom.

The Home Office has said the savings can be achieved without cutting the frontline, by “prioritising the visibility and availability of policing”.