POLICE Scotland won’t have the cash to buy body cameras and smartphones for frontline officers this year because of an inadequate budget, ministers have been warned.

The country’s single force said it was facing a real terms cut in equipment funding for the second year in a row thanks to the draft budget for 2020/21.

It predicted crumbling police buildings would now fall into ever greater states of disrepair.

The Tories called it "SNP neglect".

Kate Forbes, the incoming finance secretary, announced the settlement to parliament on February 6.

In a written submission to Holyrood’s justice sub-committee on policing, David Page, the Deputy Chief Officer for corporate reserves, welcomed some aspects of the deal.

In particular, he said that an extra £37m of revenue funding was £17m more than expected, and would see the force’s deficit reduced to £49m in the coming financial year.

However he said the force remained “disappointed” that the long-term trend was for Police Scotland to be “structurally underfunded”.

His most severe criticisms were for the capital funding of £46.6m to pay for building repairs, cars, IT and other equipment.

He said the force had warned since last summer that it needed £74m to put in place reforms to make Police Service “fit for the 21st Century”.

However the £46.6m was only £3.5m more than in 2019/20, and once an extra £5m ring-fenced for greener vehicles was deducted, there was actually a real terms reductions on last year - which is the second consecutive year our available capital has reduced”.

He went on: The impact of this settlement is that no new change improvement activity will be possible in 2020/21.

“This means for example that we will only be able to issue mobile devices (smart phones) to some of our officers, nor will we be able to commence the work to equip Police Scotland officers with Body Worn Video (BWV).

“This equipment, which is basic equipment issued to officers in England and Wales, was one of the key recommendations made by Dame Elish Angiolini’s independent review into complaints handling, investigations and misconduct issues.

“This is a vital piece of equipment to assist in the safeguarding of officers health and safety and can be a key tool in the investigation of complaints against the police.

“It also means that there will be less than half the level of funding required to maintain the policing estate at its current low level, so further deterioration and failure can be expected in 2020/21.”

Tory MSP Liam Kerr said: “The funding settlement from the SNP government to police isn’t anything like good enough.

“And there’s no excuse for this under-investment, given the huge swathes of cash going into policing down south, which means the SNP has Barnet Consequentials to spend here.

“Bodycams are an essential addition for officers, and the fact they can’t afford them is a direct consequence of SNP neglect.

“The new finance secretary needs to take these calls seriously and think again about putting more cash into this most vital of public services.”

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “In spite of the UK Government’s failure to provide clarity on funding for Scotland next year, we have committed to providing an extra £42m for Police Scotland’s annual budget – a 3.6% rise to more than £1.2bn – that will ensure the service can keep officer numbers at current levels, as well as maintaining and modernising its estate.

“Officers and staff could of course do more if the UK Government paid back the £125m VAT paid by Police Scotland before the Treasury reversed this unfair policy in 2018.”