Newham police face a major budget cut next year that will cost them millions of pounds, according to recent proposals.

The cuts, discovered by a Freedom of Information request, revealed that the Newham force faces a reduction of �2.5 million from �52.6 million in next year’s spending.

Police will have to save �500,000 more than their neighbouring borough of Tower Hamlets who face cuts of �2 million from �52 million.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Service said: “The MPS has been very proactive in seeking to identify savings from areas such as its estate, vehicles, contracts, etc. so that it can prioritise the continued delivery of operational policing services.

“In order to keep London safe it is necessary to maintain a balance of highly visible and publicly accessible uniform officers, and specialist investigators who have the additional skills to target rapists, child abusers, and drug and people traffickers amongst a wide range of other crimes. “Finding the �600million savings that we are likely to have to make by 2014/15 is extremely challenging but the MPS is committed to keeping the capital safe whilst it does so.”

London Assembly member for City and East John Biggs, who made the Freedom of Information request, called on Mayor Boris Johnson and the government to reverse their decision, especially in the light of last month’s rioting and looting.

AM Biggs said: “I’m deeply worried that slashing our local police will affect their ability to keep us safe and keep us feeling safe.

“We saw in August how important it is to have police on the streets when trouble hits.”