Chancellor Phillip Hammond says solving knife crime 'isn't just about putting more money' into police forces

Chancellor Philip Hammond has said tackling knife crime "isn't just about putting more money" into police forces but also "how that money is used".

Mr Hammond said he would provide the £1 billion already earmarked for the the policing but it was up to police forces to make sure their priorities "reflect the priorities of the populations they serve".

His comments follow a high-profile meeting between Home Secretary Sajid Javid and seven senior police chiefs, who called for a "surge" in funding.

Mr Hammond said: "I am providing more funding for the police in the year about to start, the financial year about to start in April.

"The police will have almost a billion pounds of additional spending available to them.

"They've had £460 million additional, this year. But it isn't just about putting more money in.

"It's about how that money is used, making sure that the priorities that police commissioners and chief constables adopt reflect the priorities of the populations they serve."

Mr Javid had told senior police officers on Wednesday to outline the "scale of investment" they will require by the end of the week.

Meanwhile Theresa May continues to face a mounting backlash for denying a link between officer numbers and bloodshed on Britain’s streets as another man lost his life in a fatal stabbing in the capital.

The row follows a string of high-profile stabbings in recent days, including 17-year-olds Jodie Chesney and Yousef Makki, who were killed in separate incidents in London and Greater Manchester last weekend.

Mrs May addressed the issue in the Commons after arguing earlier this week that there was “no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers”.

But a string of senior figures in policing have lined up to dispute her assertion.

Sara Thornton, chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council linked the fall in police officers to rising crime on Wednesday.

She said: "What I've said is that there are fewer officers therefore there is less policing going on and there's more crime."