Ed Miliband launched a fresh attack on police budget cuts today, pledging to force a Commons vote on the issue that would expose splits on the government benches.
The Labour leader said ministers were being "reckless" in refusing to rethink planned 20 per cent savings following the worst rioting in living memory.
Launching a new campaign during a visit to Lewisham, Mr Miliband claimed the cuts, reducing officer numbers by 16,000, would "weaken the forces of law and order on our streets".
He said: "Rather than making sensible savings that protect front line services, this Government is insisting it will press ahead with cuts that go too far and too fast."
Labour are considering using the Government's new e-petition scheme to trigger debate on the cuts in the House of Commons or one of its allocated "opposition days" to debate the matter. A vote in Parliament would lay bare splits within the Coalition and the Conservative Party about the cuts.
Mayor Boris Johnson spoke out against the funding reductions following the riots, and senior Liberal Democrats have also raised concerns.
Police today made a new appeal for information about a raid on a Sony distribution centre in Enfield during the London riots amid claims that professional criminals could have played a part in the looting.
A report claimed a gang had deliberately targeted the warehouse before it was burned down by arsonists.
