Labour’s police funding boost is less than the £118million National Insurance hike forces are trying to cover, Kemi Badenoch has warned. The Conservative leader warned that Sir Keir Starmer’s £100million increase for 13,000 new police officers is “just £7,000 per head”.
Mrs Badenoch also accused the Prime Minister of reheating an old announcement. Speaking during a local election visit to Lancashire, the Conservative leader told broadcasters: “I was really surprised that they made such a big announcement given that this is a re-announcement from January. They talked about £100million for 13,000 new police officers. That can’t be right. That is just £7,000 per head.”
Pointing to the rise in National Insurance contributions, she added: “It is less than the £118 million that the police service is going to be paying for the jobs tax.”
Asked if the Tories could still claim to be the party of “law and order” after police numbers fell under the Conservative government, Mrs Badenoch said: “Yes. Absolutely we can.
“We also brought in 20,000 new police officers after 2019, and one of the things that I emphasise is that we wouldn’t have released prisoners early in the way that Labour have done.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp added: “Thanks to Labour’s jobs tax, our police forces face a £118million shortfall, risking 1,800 police jobs.
“The Met are cutting 1,700 jobs and services, including moving officers out of schools.
“The previous government delivered record police officers, but law and order is taking a back seat under Labour.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said there will be 3,000 new neighbourhood police officers “by the start of next year”.
The plans will also include a “named, contactable” officer for every area as the Government pushes to improve neighbourhood policing with a £200million investment.
Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Somerset are among the counties to see an increase in officer numbers comprising both police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs).
The Prime Minister told police officers at an event in Cambridgeshire: “I want you to have the tools that you need to do the job that we ask you to do.
“With our neighbourhood policing guarantee, we’ll deliver 13,000 new neighbourhood officers by 2029.
“And today I can announce the first step, 3,000 new neighbourhood officers by the start of next year – all of them visible, on the beat and serving their communities, not stuck behind a desk, or taken away to plug shortages from elsewhere.
“And from this July, so a few months’ time, every neighbourhood will have a named, contactable officer.
“They’ll have guaranteed police patrols in town centres and hot spots, particularly at peak times like Friday and Saturday nights.
“People will be able to go online and measure how their local neighbourhood team is performing. There will be a range of ways for local residents and businesses to raise their concerns and to demand change from their neighbourhood policing team.”
Sir Keir said the “culture of crime that is destroying our communities” must be brought to an end.
He said: “I’m sure you’ve all heard this, but all of my career, whether as a lawyer, a prosecutor or a politician, people have said to me, ‘antisocial behaviour … it’s low-level crime’.
“Well, it isn’t. It really affects individuals, their families and their communities, inhibits what they could do.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government is “determined to rebuild neighbourhood policing”.
Also speaking in Cambridgeshire on Thursday, she said: “So to set out the new neighbourhood policing guarantee today, the named, contactable officers, the additional plans for neighbourhood policing in every region and restoring that principle of officers and PCSOs, who know their local communities, work with local businesses and communities to solve problems and prevent crimes and to target repeat offenders and gather that intelligence to convict criminals and get justice.”
