A Sussex port is becoming a "smugglers' den" following cuts in the number of customs officers, an MP has warned.

Lewes MP Norman Baker says the number of customs workers at Newhaven docks has fallen by 88 per cent in 12 years.

The Home Office, replying to a Parliamentary question from Mr Baker, said the number of officials had dropped from 124 in 1990 to just 15.

Mr Baker told ministers the cuts were turning Newhaven into "a smuggler's cove for illicit tobacco, alcohol and drugs".

He said: "It is a scandal that the number of customs officials in Newhaven has been so drastically cut in the last decade, especially when numbers nationally have been rising.

"Newhaven is a busy sea port with ferries running twice daily and a regular Seacat service in the summer.

"Fifteen customs officials is totally inadequate to cope with the numbers coming through the port."

Lewes District Council chairman Peter Harper, who represents Newhaven's Denton ward, said: "I have known Norman Baker for a long time and have never known him to say anything without pretty good evidence for it."

A Customs and Excise spokesman denied the port was understaffed.

He said: "We are not actually reducing the number of staff available but putting them into a more flexible arrangement.

"We will have a smaller static staff and a much larger flexible one, capable of covering Newhaven on a risk basis.

"Given that it is taxpayers' money we are spending, it is incumbent on us to make sure they get the best value for money."