The deficit there could be as much as £34 million and there have been calls for the Scottish Government to intervene to ensure front-line services are not affected.

Councillor Mackintosh said it would be autumn before the budget for Tayside Police, which receives cash from Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross local authorities, is known.

“Strathclyde are quite right to start this exercise at this stage — it is quite a sizeable exercise as they deal with 12 local authorities,” he said.

“In Tayside we deal with three local authorities and will be carrying out the same exercise later on. We are waiting to find out what the government settlement will be, and we won’t know that until the autumn.

“There may be a shortfall and we will look at efficiency savings at that stage. But until we know it’s wrong to scaremonger because there may not be cuts — the situation may not be as bad as we think.”

The councillor gave an assurance that, if efficiency savings were required, front-line services would be the last resort.

“The directive coming from the Government says there should be more officers on the streets, a more visible policing presence,” he said. “Tayside has already been working towards that, getting as many officers as possible released from ‘back office’ roles.”

Ministers said they had given Scottish councils record funding of £23 billion to deliver services, and funding for 1000 additional police officers.

The Scottish Government said its action meant police numbers were at a record high — more than 17,000.

A spokesman added, “We’ve also funded police wage rises and have met the pensions requirements of our forces, following the pensions deficit we inherited from the last government.”

However, there are fears that forces across the country could be affected by the squeeze on the public purse. Strathclyde’s “best-case scenario” is a £12.4 million hole in its budget.

Councillor Mackintosh concluded, “It is a case of wait and see, but we are very much on top of the finances in Tayside.”