Plaid Cymru the Party of Wales has described plans by the Labour Government to take police funding away from rural areas to spend on inner cities as a kick in the teeth for the police service in Pembrokeshire.

Under proposals being put forward by Labour's police minister John Denman, Dyfed Powys Police stands to lose a staggering £4m from its annual budget.

Such is the level of concern that even Dyfed Powys Chief Constable Terrence Grange came out publicly to warn that such a cut in funding would have a severe impact on his force's ability to tackle crime.

Responding to the proposals, Llyr Hughes Griffiths, Plaid Cymru's prospective Assembly candidate for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, said: "Dyfed Powys Police is currently the most successful police force in England and Wales, and it has recently embarked on a policy of opening smaller and more local police stations in rural towns and villages. All this is now under threat and areas such as Tenby could be facing cut backs and a loss in police services.

"Only two years ago the Government accepted that the cost of policing rural parts such as West Wales is far higher due to the land area that needs to be covered. Police services in Pembrokeshire are already financially stretched and losing £4 million from the budget will mean that the current level of policing will suffer.

"The only other option would be to increase the police element of the council tax by as much as 40 per cent. This is totally unacceptable, especially when we in the Dyfed Powys area already pay up to three times more of the bill for policing our region compared with those in large urban areas.

"Plaid Cymru the Party of Wales will be writing to the Government demanding that the Home Secretary looks again at these proposals to ensure that rural police forces don't lose out in any proposed changes. We need to improve and build on the good record of Dyfed Powys Police not undermine it."

A final decision on the new funding formula will be made this autumn.