GETTY Police chiefs have warned cuts could compromise Britain's safety

FREE now SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Make the most of your money by signing up to our newsletter fornow We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

In a letter sent to the Home Secretary following the atrocity - in which 129 people were killed - senior police officers said that mainstream policing is essential in tackling terrorism on UK soil. ISIS gunmen spread across the French capital in a series of coordinated attacks last week - with most victims claimed inside the Bataclan music hall where 89 people died. Two suicide bombers also targeted the Stade de France where France were playing Germany in an international football match, killing themselves and one other person.

GETTY Senior officials warned Theresa May that further cuts will 'severely impact' the force

The letter, which was sent by senior officials following a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee in the wake of the killing spree, warns: "Police forces across England and Wales have already seen a reduction of 40,000 officers and further losses will severely impact on our surge capacity." Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham has issued a fresh warning against imposing heavy cuts on police forces as the Government is set to squeeze budgets further in next week’s spending review.

AP Last weeks attacks killed 129 people

Mr Burnham, along with police chiefs across the country, has called on the Government to rethink on cuts to policing budgets. Labour has warned that savings above 10 per cent would be "dangerous and put public safety at risk".

GETTY The Shadow Home Secretary said it would be 'unwise' to make further cuts to police forces

Cuts to neighbourhood policing will have a detrimental effect on local intelligence gathering and countering Andy Burnham

In a separate letter to the Home Secretary, Mr Burnham said: "Given the events in Paris last weekend we repeat our belief that it would be unwise to ask the police to deliver further difficult savings above 5 per cent over the next five years." He added: "Reductions in mainstream policing will not only significantly impact on the 'surge' ability of the police to provide the additional support required at an emergency incident, but cuts to neighbourhood policing will have a detrimental effect on local intelligence gathering and countering."