AN almighty row has broken out over the closure of Halesowen Police Station.

Hours after Conservative Halesowen MP James Morris set up a Save Halesowen Police Station campaign the Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson blasted the MP and his party's government's austerity cuts.

A PCC spokesman said: “We look forward to him joining the cross-party campaign on police funding. He could also assist his constituents by explaining that these recommendations are a result of the austerity measures that he and his government have supported and been so keen on.

He added: “The independent National Audit Office have recognised that West Midlands Police have been hit harder than almost any other force in the country. Instead of knocking West Midlands Police, he should be standing up for his constituents and fighting for a fair funding deal from government.”

Mr Morris also called on PCC to explain why cash reserves had not been spent before cuts had been made.

The PCC spokesman added: “All available non-earmarked reserves will be used to balance the revenue budget over the period to 2018/19.”

And the PCC also hit back at Mr Morris complaints about the amount of money being spent on its headquarters- Lloyd House in Birmingham.

The PCC spokesman added: "The purchase of Lloyd House was made in 2009 at a very reasonable price because of the financial crash. Lloyd House was purchased on 6 August 2009 at a cost of £18m. We were previously paying a £870,000 a year lease.

“The purchase of Lloyd House allows the Force to rationalise its city centre estate and yield large savings by eliminating expensive city centre rents saving nearly £3 million a year. The occupancy of Lloyd House will be almost doubled from 850 to about 1500. A third of the refurbishment cost is maintenance that would have had to be done anyway. Not counting the maintenance bill that we would have had to pay anyway, the refurbishment will pay for itself in seven years, as well as relieving pressure on the revenue budget.”

Halesowen Police Station is one of 28 properties including Dudley Police Station and Stourbridge Police Station which the police are vacating to save £8.5m.