18,000 police officers, 12,000 of them operational front-line officers, were lost in the last Parliament - Andy Burnham
Osborne breaks funding promise to Police and public
New analysis shows 36 of 43 Police forces cut in cash-terms by Government and local Government precept rise fails to plug the gaps
Thousands of Bobbies and PCSOs now at risk as 10 per cent cuts predicted by 2020
Police recorded violent crime and other forms rising, with overall crime rate predicted to almost double when cyber-crime is included in crime survey this summerLabour launches Police and Crime Commissioner election campaign on Thursday
Labour will use a Commons’ debate this afternoon, ahead of Thursday’s launch of its Police and Crime Commissioner election campaign, to present new analysis which shows the Chancellor has broken his promise to protect the Police budget in real-terms.
The party will force a vote calling on the Government to honour the commitment given in November’s Spending Review to give Police force budgets real-terms protection.
Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham will use figures from the House of Commons’ Library that show, in 2016/17, the overall Government grant to the Police will not even be protected in cash-terms. Forces in England and Wales will receive £30 million less in cash – a cut worth £160 million in real-terms and equivalent to the salaries of 3,200 Police officers.
Of the 43 Police forces in England and Wales, 36 received grant allocations from central Government that that have been cut in cash-terms and 41 of 43 cut in real-terms, including every force in England. If this level of cuts to the Police is sustained over the spending review period up to 2020, it equates to cuts between 9 and 10 per cent in real-terms.
Burnham will point to six examples to unpick the Government’s defence that the freedom for local councils and PCCs to raise the Police precept will cover the shortfall left by Ministers:
- Greater Manchester Police lost £8.5 million in real-terms from its central Government allocation and will raise only an extra £3.5 million from the full use of the precept freedoms. The PCC resigned himself to presenting a “cuts budget”.
- Devon & Cornwall and Cambridgeshire will not be raising their precept by the full amount recommended by the Government to fill real-terms cuts of £4 million and £1.2 million respectively.
- Thames Valley Police – the Police force of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary - will see a real-terms cut in central Government funding of £5.2 million and the PCC has confirmed that “even with a 2% increase in the council tax precept next year to maintain the level of our income, and with the £15.6 million of savings, we will still lose 95 officers next year.”
Hertfordshire will lower its precept despite a real-terms cut of £2 million from central Government.
West Midlands Police lost over £10 million in real-terms and raised only £3.3 million from the precept rise.
Hampshire’s independent PCC has confirmed a budget shortfall of £6 million by 2019/20 even with maximum council tax precept increases.
When online fraud and cyber-crime is added to the crime survey of England and Wales figures later this year, it is expected to show that crime may have doubled.
While the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics in January show a 27 per cent rise in violent crime, including a 9 per cent rise in offences involving knives; the murder rate has increased by 14 per cent year-on-year; hate crimes have risen 18 per cent in the last year; and thanks to improvements in police recording there has been a 36 per cent increase in sexual offences.
On Thursday, Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham will launch Labour’s Police and Crime Commissioner campaign in Birmingham and encourage voters to use the elections as “an opportunity to tell David Cameron what you think of his cuts to the Police”.
Corbyn and Burnham will commit Labour’s PCC candidates to prioritising neighbourhood policing - keeping Bobbies on the beat, reducing crime and keeping communities safe.
Andy Burnham will tell MPs:
“The public have not been told the truth about Police funding and crime figures. Budgets for next year have not been protected in real-terms. They are being cut again - for the sixth year in a row - at a time when the country is facing increasing risks.
“It comes after 18,000 police officers, 12,000 of them operational front-line officers, were lost in the last Parliament. There are real fears that, if an attack were to happen outside London, then there simply is not the ability to surge enough Police officers onto the streets, specifically firearms units and specially trained officers.
“The truth is that the Police is being cut whilst crime is rising. They are cutting the fire service and the border force even more deeply. Tory cuts that are putting your safety at risk - that’s the message that we will take into the PCC Elections. I defy the Government to stand by its claim that it is protecting police budgets in real-terms.”
On crime, he will say: "The Government is not telling the whole story. The Home Secretary needs to start providing a fuller and truer account of what is happening to crime on her watch.
“It’s alibi for its Police cuts so far has been that it’s OK to cut the Police because crime is falling. Ministers are going to need a new script. Because they are cutting the Police when crime is rising - and they can no longer deny that reality.
“The latest recorded crime statistics in January showed large rises in violent crime, knife crime, hate crime and sexual offences. It is time for the Government to drop the spin and produce a credible plan for policing. A part-time Police force is no answer to the growing threats we face from cyber-crime and terrorism.”
