Labour attempts to put more bobbies on the beat have been undermined by the appointment of thousands more bureaucrats.

While Home Secretary David Blunkett claimed that the number of officers has increased to a record 136,000 throughout England and Wales, his Conservative opposite number Oliver Letwin protested that the huge recruitment of additional Home Office civil servants had rocketed by three times the number of extra police men and women.

In his Labour conference speech, Mr Blunkett seized on a rise in the size of the police force, and signalled fresh action to tackle gun crime, as he battled to restore Labour's crumbling credibility on law and order.

But Mr Letwin remained unimpressed, and commented: "There was nothing in David Blunkett's speech that he hadn't leaked before hand. While we welcome the increase in the number of police officers, for every extra police officer he has recruited another bureaucrat in the Home Office."

And promoting a mainstream Conservative policy pledge, he said the party's promise to recruit an additional 40,000 police officers was needed to step up the fight against crime.

"We believe we need 40,000 more police officers in this country than we had last year - and we don't need 10,000 additional administrators in the Home Office. The Home Secretary should continue increasing police numbers at this rate, but he should also start decreasing the number of administrators in the Home Office. The recent rise in police numbers shows that the Conservative Party's commitment to increase the number of police officers by 5,000 each year for eight years is thoroughly achievable," Mr Letwin told conservatives.com.

 St Philips Councillor Debbie Baylies
 welcomed the Conservative Pledge to
 recruit an additional 40 000 police offices, 
 "I know from talking to my local
 residents just how important it is that we
  get policemen back on the beat. 
 Labour tie our policemen up with
 endless red tape, hampering their
 efforts to meet my residents calls to be
  a visable presence on the beat."