FIGURES released by the government show that 399 Cumbria Police officers were assaulted last year.

And with there being 36,969 assaults on police officers across England and Wales in total, Downing Street has come in for criticism from Cumbria Police Federation chairman Paul Williams.

He said: "This is a physical sickening piece evidence of what our members have had to endure over the last year and are still enduring.

"This job is more dangerous, more demanding and draining on resources than it has ever been. Leave bans, cancelled rest days and extra hours are the norm now yet we have very recently effectively taken a further pay cut.

“Someone from government please tell me how this is right and acceptable because so far we’ve seen nothing other than results of our own tireless campaigning around sentence increases that government take credit for.”