Dr Alan Billings said: “The government has said that the funding for South Yorkshire Police will remain the same for the coming financial year as this – provided that council tax is raised by £1 per month for each household.

“In other words, they are not going to put in any real money from central government but are shifting the burden of paying to local council tax payers. This repeats what they did last year.

“The pattern is becoming clear: the cost of paying for the police service will be borne increasingly by local council tax payers, even though we have in South Yorkshire some of the poorest households in the country.

“Even so, this does not take account of increases in salaries and prices. In order for the books to balance the force will have to make further savings.

“I shall be asking the Chief Constable to do this without damaging the restoration of neighbourhood policing and the commitment to keep us safe from serious crime and the growing threat of terrorism.

“The government wants Police and Crime Commissioners to use more of their reserves, but in South Yorkshire we have to have reserves to pay towards the continuing costs of ‘legacies’ – civil claims from Hillsborough families, from victims of non-recent child sexual exploitation in Rotherham and from the cost of Operation Stovewood, the National Crime Agency’s investigation into non-recent CSE.”