MORE than 160 Hampshire police officer jobs are set to be axed to help fill a £20m black hole in the force's budget.

While more than half of the uniformed posts being axed are already vacant, the others will be sergeants and inspectors.

Bosses insist the move will actually help the force put more bobbies on the beat because the “supervisory” roles being cut will allow more resources to be spent on front-line policing.

But officers' representatives last night described the cuts as the "tip of the iceberg", and said they would inevitably impact on frontline policing.