Responding to the Budget unveiled by the Chancellor yesterday Stephen Morgan, Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, has slammed the Government and warned continuing real-terms funding cuts “will break the police”.
The Government have repeatedly insisted they have protected police budgets since 2015 but new research shows that Hampshire Constabulary has seen a 32% deduction in police numbers since 2010, a loss of 895 bobbies on our beats.
The Chancellor found no new Government funding for the police, despite warnings from senior officer that the current budget settlement risks forces losing a further 6,000 officers as crime rockets.
Stephen Morgan MP said:
“This budget will break the police and risks cutting the frontline even further.
People in our community will be shocked that with crime rocketing the Government have prescribed further cuts for our local police force and refused to give them the resources and the officers they need to fight crime and anti-social behaviour.
This is another example of the Tories failing the people of Portsmouth”.
Since 2010 over 20,000 police officers, over 30,000 police staff and 6,000 community support officers have been axed despite a promise to protect the frontline.
Police forces in England and Wales are now at their lowest strength per 100,000 of the population since records began in 1979.
Louise Haigh, Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister said:
“Yesterday’s budget proves the Government cannot be trusted to keep our communities safe.”
Thanks to years of Conservative cuts, police numbers are at historic lows, at a time when crime is rocketing. You can’t protect the public on the cheap.
This is the grim legacy of seven years of Tory austerity; dedicated police officers fighting hard to keep the public safe with the fewest officers per head on record. Labour will recruit another 10,000 new police officers to help keep us safe.”
