FRONTLINE emergency services have been under severe strain over the festive period following cuts to police and ambulance budgets, according to the Cornwall councillor for Callington, who has called on central Government to do more to protect the services.

Councillor Andrew Long, who represents Callington on Cornwall Council, has called for urgent action from the Government to protect frontline emergency services following a spate of problems across South East Cornwall. He made the call following problems with both police and ambulance cover across the area over the festive period.

He said: 'It is always a difficult time to provide emergency cover during Christmas and the New Year but this year, thanks to the savage cuts to police funding and the privatisation of the ambulance service, we have experienced no end of problems.

'A local family experienced a two-hour delay waiting for the police to come to an accident involving their daughter in Kelly Bray and many of the most vulnerable in our society have experienced the same problems with the ambulance service which is under severe strain.

'The South West Ambulance Trust has warned it is at breaking point and has asked for help from the Red Cross and St John Ambulance volunteers.

'The professionals are doing an amazing job. The reality is, though, that there are simply not enough of them.'

He said it was 'galling' to hear from the police and crime commissioner Tony Hogg that the service across Cornwall and Devon was improving but on the ground there was even less cover than before.

'Even non emergency 101 calls to the force are taking in excess of 30 minutes to be answered,' said Cllr Long.

'Everyday we worry more that these savage cuts in emergency service funding will cost lives and the claims that the frontline is protected no longer washes with the public. We need urgent action to protect the public and provide the sort of service that is needed in the 21st century.'

In a recent funding statement, Tony Hogg said Devon and Cornwall Police would have £9-million less to spend this year following the recent Home Office announcement on police funding, which was more of a cut than expected.

He said: 'These cuts are substantial and, have no doubt, will impact on the way Devon and Cornwall is policed over the coming years. We have been working hard to prepare for these cuts by developing our work on a strategic alliance with Dorset but it is clear that we cannot lose five percent off our budget every year, for the next four years, without policing in the future being significantly changed.

'It means we must make lots of difficult choices to protect as much frontline service as possible, but these continued government cuts leave us no choice but to explore issues such as reducing officer numbers, losing police stations and finding new ways for the public to deal with the police, including more automated systems.'

Mr Hogg said it was 'impossible' to absorb the level of budget reduction without an impact on the service provided to the people.

He said in the coming year there were plans in place to protect frontline policing but soon he would start asking the public if it was content to see further service reductions or if it would rather pay more council tax to maintain high quality policing in the South West.

'This is not a question for now but, this year, I will be consulting with the public to assess their views on paying more for an improved policing service,' he said.