NORTH East Labour MPs joined Mayor of London Boris Johnson to demand David Cameron reverses spending cuts imposed on the police in the wake of riots across England.

The calls come as extra police officers were brought in from across the country to flood the streets of London to deter disorder as other forces also faced violence in other parts of the country.

The issue could also be raised when Parliament is recalled today to discuss the rioting – with a report just weeks ago showing more than 800 North East police officers will lose their jobs as a result of Government cuts.

Northumbria and Durham forces revealed the extent of cuts they will have to make to deal with budget reductions of over £88m in the next four years.

The number of civilian staff employed by the two forces is also set to be cut by over 1,000, alongside the loss of almost 200 community support officer jobs.

The figures were set out by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies which inspected all forces to see how prepared they were to cope with cuts. Tory Mayor Boris Johnson put himself as odds with the Prime Minister, saying: “This is not a time to think about making substantial cuts in police numbers.”

Kevan Jones, Labour MP for North Durham, said: “The idea that police numbers aren’t important is ridiculous. It is another example of this un-joined up thinking with this Government.”

Fellow Labour MP Dave Anderson, who represents Blaydon, accused the Government of having a “stupid attitude” that cutting police staff not in uniform would not have an impact. Nick Forbes, Labour leader of Newcastle City Council, said: “It is ironic that the 16,000 police on the streets of London are more or less equivalent to the number of police officers that we will see lost by 2016.

“This is a concrete example of the cuts being too far, too fast and the Government needs to think again so that the public and property can be protected.”

But Liberal Democrat MP Ian Swales, who represents Redcar, said: “I don’t believe we can man the police permanently for these kinds of unusual circumstances.”