Rachel Reeves has told police to "live with" the budget she's given – as cops warned of slashing their numbers.
The Chancellor's told LBC that forces have to cope with having less money than they wanted in her spending review yesterday.
And she stressed that the public had to pay for the public services like schools and the police, and it was her job to balance those with the need to invest in Britain.
Yesterday she set out more money for the NHS, schools and defence – and a huge boost for infrastructure spending in major projects.
But there were cuts to spending in departments like the Home Office.
Police forces have repeatedly warned they don't have the cash needed to deliver the promises Labour made in the election to halve knife crime and crime against women and girls, within a decade.
And they have even suggested they'll have to cut their numbers.
Labour promised 13,000 new police and support officers in last year's manifesto.
Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, has said he's disappointed with London's settlement.
However, this morning the Chancellor suggested that there was no budging in her spending.
She told LBC's Nick Ferrari: "What I would say is that police spending, as police spending power is going up by 2.3% a year above inflation. That is a general nervous settlement.
"Police have to live within the budgets we've set, but that is a real terms increase, well above inflation.
"And police now need to deliver within that budget. People have to pay for every public service.
"As a Chancellor, I have to balance those, those needs for investment in public services whilst also not spending more money than we have. And those are decisions we made yesterday. But it's a generous police settlement. Well above inflation, well above the average that they've had the last few years under the Conservatives."
And she said she did not accept there was a need to cut police numbers.
Sir Sadiq had said: “I’ve been determined to stand up for London.
“However, I remain concerned that this spending review could result in insufficient funding for the Met and fewer police officers.
“The way to level up other regions will never be to level down London. I’ll continue to fight for the investment we need so that we can continue building a fairer, safer and greener London for everyone.”
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told LBC earlier this month he would need hundreds of millions of pounds in extra cash just to deal with the result of letting more prisoners out earlier.
Sir Mark Rowley's told LBC's Fraser Knight that the Met "understands the Chancellor has got a difficult balancing act" where prison overcrowding and other economic demands are concerned.
However, he highlighted that the need for figures where the early release scheme was concerned, in a bid "to help us respond to the extra demand on communities."
Admitting proposals to release prisoners early will put added strain on local communities,
Sir Mark Rowley acknowledged that "some of those offenders are going to commit more crime, more trouble locally, and that’s going to wash back onto policing"."The sentencing review is really critical," he told LBC.
"The government has got a difficult problem to fix with sentencing policy historically and prison building haven’t been lined up. So they’ve got to deal with that.
"But if we’re now going to deal with offenders on the streets who have previously been in prison – however good a job probation do with the extra money they’ve got, some of those offenders are going to commit more crime, more trouble locally, and that’s going to wash back onto policing – and we need the resources to deal with that."
Sir Mark Rowley: Police will choose which crimes to investigate without more funding
