The Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) has issued an urgent appeal to Secretary of state Hilary Benn MP to intervene and help resolve the escalating financial crisis affecting policing.

The funding deficit, which could total hundreds of millions of pounds, is being driven by a number of unresolved financial pressures - including tens of millions of pounds in compensation owed to officers for the 2023 data reach and unpaid holiday entitlements.

PFNI Chair Liam Kelly said: "This is a funding perfect storm. There is no money for the Chief Constable's Recovery Plan. Happily, it seems police pay is likely to be resolved in Stormont’s Monitoring Round next month – one less but relatively small expenditure item in the grand scheme of things.

"There's a £23 million deficit to be addressed by Ministers before anything else can happen. That will have to be dealt with as a priority in the Monitoring Round. "If Ministers haven't the funds, then only the urgent, direct intervention by the Labour Government can ensure essential expenditure items are funded.

"In short, we need a bail out to cover all outstanding financial elements. In the Republic of Ireland, the Government is funding 1,000 additional Gardai next year and we’re facing a worrying downward trajectory. The contrast couldn’t be starker.

"Mr Benn has a duty to go into bat at Cabinet and Downing Street for the Service and the men and women I represent. He cannot do a Pontius Pilate and maintain he cannot interfere because policing is devolved.

"You can't play politics with policing. The Government's presiding over a Service that is actually shrinking and that wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere else in the United Kingdom. This is an SOS distress message to Mr Benn. It's time for decisive action instead of this dangerous and unbecoming game of musical chairs."