In the aftermath of the Manchester terror attack army soldiers arrive in Westminster (Picture: Jeff Moore)

Prime Minister Theresa May accused police officers of ‘crying wolf’ after they warned spending cuts could lead to ‘a paramilitary style of policing’.

Her comments, made at the Police Federation’s annual conference in 2015, have been under the microscope as soldiers were drafted in to free up armed police officers this week.

Images showed coaches of soldiers in uniform arrive to protect Parliament, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace as the terror threat level was raised to ‘critical’ following Monday’s terror attack which killed 22 people.

Two years ago, inspector Damian O’Reilly hit out at cuts to the budget in Manchester saying ‘intelligence has dried up’ due to a loss of community policing – but was accused of ‘scaremongering’.


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He said he quit his dream job to work as an inspector in Manchester Airport after seeing how the force was struggling to cope.

‘I worked in inner-city Manchester for 15 years,’ he said. ‘I felt passionate about what I was doing.

‘In 2012 I had to leave. I couldn’t take it any more because the changes that have been imposed have caused community policing to collapse.

‘That’s the reality ma’am. Intelligence has dried up. There aren’t local officers.

‘They don’t know what’s happening. They’re all reactive. There’s no proactive policing locally.

‘We run the risk here of letting communities down, putting officers at risk and ultimately risking national security.’

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However, Theresa May declared ‘This crying wolf has to stop.’

She told the 2015 conference: ‘This weekend the federation warned that spending reductions mean we’ll be forced to adopt a paramilitary style of policing in Britain. Today you’ve said neighbourhood police officers are an endangered species.

‘I have to tell you that this kind of scaremongering does nobody any good – it doesn’t serve you, it doesn’t serve the officers you represent, and it doesn’t serve the public.’

A Home Office spokesman said military personnel were deployed due to the Operation Temperer mobilisation plan following a major terrorist attack and would be under the command and control of the police service.

‘The 2015 Spending Review protected overall police spending in real terms, and the 2017/18 police funding settlement maintained that protection.’

Read more of our Manchester attack coverage here.