... and breath tests plunge to new low

POLICE were accused of ‘giving up’ the war on drink-driving as it emerged the number of breathalyser tests has slumped to the lowest level since records began.

Home Office figures show 325,887 tests were carried out last year on drivers suspected of being over the alcohol limit.

This represents a 15 per cent fall from the previous year and is the lowest level since the data was first collected in 2002.

It is also less than half the number carried out by police in 2009, in the year before David Cameron came to power and installed Theresa May as his home secretary.

The drop has coincided with the number of people killed or injured by drink-drive accidents jumping to 9,040 in 2016 – the highest level in five years.

Fatal road accidents involving illegal alcohol levels have also risen by 30 per cent from 170 in 2015 to 220 in 2016, according to latest data from the Department for Transport published earlier this year. Last night one campaigner said the fall in breath tests shows swingeing cuts to the number of traffic officers has ‘directly resulted in a reduction in road safety’ as drivers believe they can get away with boozing.

The figures have also fuelled wider concerns raised in yesterday’s devastating report by the home affairs select committee that police are struggling to cope with cuts and failing to investigate crimes.

Graham Stringer, a Labour member of the commons transport committee, said: ‘The police are giving up on car theft, they are giving up on robbery and they have given up with drunk driving.

‘The consequences of police cuts are that the number road deaths is rising again for the first time in many years and drivers are being encouraged to take risks.’

A government spokesman said there were fewer road deaths in 2017 compared with 2007.