The Communities Secretary MP has told BBC Radio 5
Live that the policy of cutting police numbers, which oversaw while Home Secretary
during the Coalition government, was not a “mistake”.
Speaking to Emma Barnett, he also indicated that the government
wouldn’t support calls for a so-called “knife czar”.
On the police cuts, Mr Brokenshire said:
“I don't think the savings that we made were a mistake.
They had to be made to ensure that we have a strong public
sector, as we do now.”
Under repeated questioning from Emma Barnett, he
added:
“We have had to make changes and we have had to make savings in
government that have been painful in so many different ways….
“We had to make those changes and make those savings to deal with
the economic and public service problems that we had in the
past. What we're doing now is, having got through those
really challenging days, to be able to invest further…
“The point being is that, you know, the different types of
criminality that we now see, with the evolution of county
lines... underpinning it is gang crime, underpinning it is
drug crime.”
When asked directly whether the government would support the
introduction of a knife czar, he said:
“I think we need to be careful about just having initiatives in a
particular way.
“We want communities, the police, to work together. Indeed,
the role of Mayors and Police and Crime Commisisioners that take
the lead in their local area – how they have that initiative,
knowing what works well on the ground. But equally, on this
appalling develoment of things like county lines, with young
people running drugs and being exploited by the gangs, how again
we have additional capability that we are taking through the
National Crime Agency and with policing as well. So we are
looking at this in a completely broad way, supporting
communities.”
