SCOTTISH police staff union Unison accused Chief Constable Sir Stephen House yesterday of presiding over a “polishambles” after he revealed he would quit next year.

The Police Scotland chief said that he would not seek a further contract when his three-year term expired in September 2016.

Sir Stephen has come under intense pressure regarding his controversial policies of arming officers, stop-and-search procedures and targets.

He admitted to the Herald newspaper that the force had been “giving away stupid penalties.”

But Unison police staff Scotland branch secretary George McIrvine told the Morning Star: “I suspect it was the constant own-goals scored as opposed to fouls that has led to the chief to announce his standing down.”

He slammed Sir Stephen and other Police Scotland “decision-makers” for ignoring a crisis caused by the hasty creation of the new unified force in the face of a regime of “brutal cuts” from Westminster and Holyrood.

Mr McIrvine accused the chief constable of pandering to the Scottish government’s outdated manifesto pledge of 1,000 extra police officers and an unachievable £1.1 billion of efficiency savings by 2026.

It comes against a backdrop of more than 1,300 long-serving police staff being made redundant.

“This is also on top of the ‘polishambles’ over stop-and-search practices, the routine carrying of firearms on the public streets and closures of local stations and control rooms across Scotland,” Mr McIrvine said.

Despite First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s declaration last month of “full confidence” in the police chief, he has faced mounting criticism from opposition politicians in Scotland.

Last week Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said that Sir Stephen had to “change his ways” or leave.

Mr McIrvine warned: “The current workforce of staff and officers are under immense pressure to perform, increased workload due to staff shortages and morale at its lowest in my nearly 30 years in the police.

“Whoever replaces Sir Stephen should reflect on good practices from the legacy forces that worked well before unification or it will be more of the same.”