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Today, the Labour Party has launched an interactive map showing local police job losses resulting from the Tory-led Government's 20% police cuts.

As you can see, the Metropolitan Police - which covers Edmonton - has already announced 2,337 job cuts that will take place over a timescale of three years, taking us up to 2013/14.

The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary have claimed that these cuts won't affect the front line, but they are completely out of touch. Yes, 1,046 of the 2,337 jobs cuts are police staff, but 1,291 of them are police officers. How can that many police officers be cut from the Metropolitan Police Service and it still function effectively?

Sadly, it's the local communities that will pay the price. Neighbourhood policing, CID, domestic violence units, fraud, burglary and murder squads are all being affected already and many forces are losing some of their most skilled and experienced crime fighters. Today I learnt of the upsetting incident of a boy of just 15 being stabbed to death in Edmonton. Are we to expect more crime like this with a diminished police force?

Of course it's possible for the police to make efficiency savings, but their budget is being cut too far and too fast and the steepest cuts are in the first few years so police forces don't have time to plan and deliver sustainable change. Instead, the front line is being hit.

It's hard to say how Edmonton or Enfield will be affected directly by the cuts as we're part of the wider Met, but we do know for sure that the Government is taking too many risks with the fight against crime. The Home Secretary urgently needs to change course, before it's too late.