Home Office blunders were today discussed in Westminster as furious MPs demanded an apology after the government used the wrong data to calculate police funding allocations.

Cambridgeshire Police force has been revealed as one of the big losers and will be a massive £3.4 million worse off.

The Home Office admitted on Friday, the final day of a twice extended consultation on the police funding formula, that they had been using the wrong data.

This mistake means that Cambridgeshire police force will unexpectedly receive £3.4 million less funding and that their financial plans for the next financial year will also have been based on incorrect funding figures. In addition, it is currently unknown what the overall funding for police will be in the 2016/2017 year.

This leaves police forces totally unable to make any financial plans for the coming financial year.

Daniel Zeichner MP called on the Government urgently to launch a fresh consultation and said: “These aren’t inconsequential figures in a spreadsheet they are bobbies on the beat. Cambridgeshire police deserve an apology from the Government. This is monumental incompetence by the Home Office.”