Plans for more police in Cumbria have been revealed – despite a funding shortfall.

The county’s police and crime commissioner, Peter McCall, revealed that future recruitment could be the biggest for some time and thinks it could be 10 percent more than last time, which saw 51 new recruits hit the county's streets. He said: “We should get at least as many as we did in phase one of the national recruitment drive. Nationally, the country recruited 6,000 of which we got 51 officers. The next funding formula is looking at a minimum of 10 per cent more at 8,000, so in turn we will get more than last time."

Mr McCall added: “If we could get phase two and three recruitment done together it would be better for finances."

The comments came at the commissioner's public accountability conference, which laid bare the funding gap within the accounts.

Mr McCall heard from Roger Marshall, the joint chief finance officer on the state of the county's police finances. He said: “We had an overspend of £424,000 last quarter which has reduced down to £304,000 overspend for this quarter.”

When asked if the budget will be balanced within the next year, Mr McCall said: “Yes, in the near future, as we have done each year since I have done this job. Who knows what’s around the corner? The actions we take are critical, as we don’t know what's around the next bend.”

The constabulary overspent by £122,000, which was made up of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ICT home laptop and computer provision for safe working.