Labour has accused the government of putting people in danger through police cuts, after figures showed that the proportion of arrests for suspected violent offences that led to a charge had fallen by a third in two years.

The figures, which come days after a new funding settlement for police was criticised as insufficient, showed it was not possible to “keep people safe on the cheap”, the shadow police minister, Louise Haigh, said.

Analysis by the House of Commons library found that the proportion of arrests on suspicion of a violent offence that resulted in a charge or a summons across 43 police forces in England and Wales fell from 17.5% in 2015/16 to 11.3% in 2017/18.

For some types of crime the fall was even more significant. The proportion of people arrested on suspicion of sexual offences who were charged or given a summons more than halved in the two years from 13.1% to 6%.

Some forces saw notably higher-than-average overall falls in the percentage of arrestees charged. In Greater Manchester and Northumbria, the rate dropped by 51% in the two years, and in Durham by 48%.

Even starker were some drops in the charge rate for specific types of crime in individual force areas. In Humberside in 2015/16, 15% of arrests for suspected sexual offences led to a charge or summons. By 2017/18 the figure had dropped to 3.8%.

The government announced an additional £970m in police funding for 2019 on Thursday, which the home secretary, Sajid Javid, said was the biggest increase since 2010.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council welcomed the settlement, but the West Midlands police and crime commissioner, David Jamieson, said his force still faced cuts.

Responding to the analysis of charging rates, Haigh said: “This is chilling evidence that Tory police cuts have put people in danger. The small change that the Tories are offering the police is a drop in a £2.7bn ocean of cuts.

“Sajid Javid said he wanted more money for his department, but he’s been defeated by Philip Hammond [the chancellor], and it’s the public who will suffer as a result of this Tory infighting.

“You can’t keep people safe on the cheap. Labour will hire 10,000 extra police officers around the country to help fight surging serious crime.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government is tackling violent crime and its devastating consequences through our serious violence strategy. We are also making sure the police have the resources they need, and our police funding settlement provides the most substantial increase since 2010.

“Alongside this funding, the government has set a clear priority – for the police to build up their investigative capacity and fill shortages in detectives.”