GWENT Police is being stretched “to breaking point” by cuts, an MP said.

The number of serving officers in the force has fallen by 226 since 2010, Chris Evans, Labour MP for Islwyn said during a debate in Parliament today.

He challenged the Government on police numbers, saying to go any lower would put the public in serious danger.

Since 2010 500 officers have been lost from the service in Wales, almost half of those from the local force, he said.

Gwent lost 73 officers in the year to September 2014 alone, the debate in Westminster Hall heard.

During the debate Mr Evans claimed reductions in police numbers have had a dramatic effect on the police, on businesses and on public safety, with overall crime in Wales up three per cent, violent crime up by a fifth and sexual offences up by thirty per cent, he said.

He added shoplifting has risen by thirty-six per cent, costing retailers over £600 million last year.

Under current UK Government plans more can be expected, he said, with Gwent Police losing a further 200 officers, taking the force to just over 1000 officers.

Mr Evans said: “Ministers must accept responsibility for making the wrong call and drop plans to compound this mistake with even worse budget cuts. To put it bluntly, police in Wales and in Gwent are being stretched to breaking point.”

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Ian Johnston, said: “These on-going cuts are not sustainable and will only succeed in further stretching our already diminishing resources to dangerous levels in future.

“You can’t put a price on public safety and these brutal cuts are bound to have an impact on police service provision. We have already lost over 220 police officers in Gwent and nearly 170 staff members. I think people need to realise that as austerity measures bite even further, we will need to concentrate policing into priority areas first. I honestly don’t think the scale of planned cuts to the police service over the next few years has been understood by the public.”

Liberal Democrat minister for crime prevention Lynne Featherstone responded that crime overall is at its lowest level since current surveys began in 1981. She said cuts to policing among other public services were inevitable due to the need to address “the largest peacetime deficit in the country’s history.”

She said many forces had been able to reinvest efficiency savings in increasing officer numbers but added: “In terms of Gwent, I recognise this picture is not wholly reflective. The inspectorate has expressed its concerns over the extent the force’s change plans rely on workforce reduction. It is clear that Gwent has resolved to address this and build a sustainable position for the future.”

She said nine Gwent police stations had reopened or had their hours extended, and said the force was working with its neighbours on areas like forensics and procurement to save money.

Ms Featherstone said: “Ultimately, decisions on the size and composition of a police force’s workforce are for the individual chief officers and PCCs, taking account of the needs and views of their local communities.”