Police forces will have dedicated teams of officers focused on patrolling town centres at peak times in England and Wales, the prime minister is expected to announce.

Sir Keir said he wanted to end the policing “postcode lottery” by ensuring every community had specialist neighbourhood officers.

The Labour government is aiming to put named local officers into each neighbourhood and boost police ranks by 13,000 by 2029.

In his announcement on Thursday, Sir Keir is expected to say visible policing has fallen dramatically in recent years, with 90% of crime left unsolved.

He will say “shoplifting and anti-social behaviour have wreaked havoc on our neighbourhoods” and argue the government’s plans will put “prevention back at the heart of policing”.

But police forces across the country are facing severe financial challenges, with some warning of cuts to existing officers this year.

Last year, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said forces faced an estimated gap of £1.3bn in their overall finances over the next two years.

In January, the Home Office announced an extra £100m for neighbourhood policing in England and Wales.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour must give the police the resources they need and linked potential job cuts to the rise in employer national insurance contributions.

“Thanks to Labour’s jobs tax, our police services face a £118 million shortfall, putting over 1,800 police jobs at risk,” Philp said.

Labour made recruiting an extra 13,000 officers into neighbourhood roles one of its central pledges ahead of last year’s general election.

The government’s plan for neighbourhood policing involves patrols in “hotspot” areas during the busiest periods, such as on Friday and Saturday nights.

An anti-social behaviour lead in every force will be expected to develop tailored action plans with residents and businesses.

Police forces have operational independence and discretion over when they send officers out on patrol.

One government source said it would be up to forces to decide when peak time is.

The Liberal Democrats said “the proof will be in the delivery of this announcement”.

“The government must fix this fully by properly funding the officers our communities need – not passing the buck to local police chiefs to put up people’s council tax instead,” the party’s home affairs spokesperson Lisa Smart said.

A Reform UK spokesman said the party wanted to see “officers spending their time doing real work”.

The spokesman said forces had wasted “millions in employing diversity and inclusion staff instead of focusing on frontline policing”.

The BBC has asked the Green Party for comment.