Immigration 'stretches police cash'

It will look at evidence provided by police chiefs over the pressure the new arrivals are placing on their budgets.

The assurance came as it was reported that the Chief Constable of Kent, Mike Fuller, has written to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to complain that funding had failed to take into account "surges" in arrivals from overseas.

In a leaked private letter dated October 22 last year, quoted in the Sunday Times, Mr Fuller reportedly writes: "I feel it is essential that I set out the impact that population growth is having in Kent and the pressure it is placing on finite resources."

He estimates 78% of the population growth is accounted for by migration, which has contributed to a rise of more than a third in violent crimes over five years to about 7,800 incidents last year.

He estimates the total additional cost to the force to be £34m over the past three years, but claims increases in funding from the Home Office have failed to keep pace.

He says translation services account for an increasing proportion of his budget, with costs up by a third over the past three years.

Last September Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Julie Spence said parts of the county had become a staging post for immigrants - partly because farm work was readily available - and more officers were needed.

A Home Office spokesman said on Sunday: "Reducing crime, making communities safer and improving police efficiency are top priorities for this government. On a like-for-like basis government grants for the police will have increased by over 60% or over £3.7 billion between 1997/98 and 2010/11.

"The police funding formula is used to make an assessment of the relative demands placed on each police authority in England and Wales, and the population of each authority is a key driver."