MP, Labour’s Shadow Home
Secretary, responding to Home Secretary admitting
this morning that Police numbers are an ‘important part’ of
tackling violent crime, said:
“Even though the Prime Minister has previously denied the link
between police numbers and levels of crime, the Home Secretary
has admitted that police numbers are vital in tackling rising
crime. It was Tory governments who cut 21,000 police officers.
“You cannot keep people safe on the cheap and those cuts have had
terrible consequences. Knife and other crime are rising sharply
and police chiefs across the country say they are close to
breaking point. Yet there was no new funding in the Chancellor’s
Budget.
“If the Home Secretary is serious, he needs to demand the funds
to stop the cuts to policing and begin to reverse the damage they
have done. Otherwise, these are just empty words from a
government failing to tackle rising crime.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
-
• Previously
the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said that it would be
naïve to say cuts to police finance have not had an impact on
crime levels.
“I would be naive to say that the reduction in police
finances over the last few years, not just in London but beyond,
hasn’t had an impact.”
Cressida Dick, Times ex LBC, 18 May 2018,
Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/met-chief-cressida-dick-says-budget-cuts-have-affected-crime-levels-kbtnccfk6?CMP=Sprkr-_-Editorial-_-thetimes-_-Unspecified-_-TWITTER
