Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s survey on police visibility, said:

“There is a simple reason why people go so long without seeing a bobby on the beat - Theresa May cut the police budget in each of the last six years. 

“Everyone should feel safe in their home, at work and in their communities but, under the Tories, we’ve seen the loss of over 19,000 officers including more than 12,000 of those from the frontline.

"As Home Secretary, Theresa May promised real-terms protection for the police but the statistic watchdog told her she failed to deliver it. Now that decision is entirely within her hands, she must honour her promise and protect front-line policing.”

Ends

Notes to editor  

Frontline –

·         When questioned by Labour about cuts to police funding in 2011, David Cameron insisted: “There is no reason for there to be fewer front-line officers” (Hansard, 30 Mar 2011, c.335).

·         But since March 2010, 19,669 officers have been lost, as well as 5,874 PCSOs (ONS, Police workforce, England and Wales: 31 March 2015, July 16^th 2016, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2015/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2015 ).

·         Despite this, Tory ministers still claimed that the frontline had been protected. In February this year, Policing Minister Mike Penning: ““What I actually said was that there are more operational police officers on duty now on the frontline than there were in the past. That is what I have said at this Dispatch Box time and time again.” (Hansard, February 10th 2016, c.1594 - https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-02-10/debates/160210109000001/PoliceGrantReport(EnglandAndWales) )

·         But in answer to a Parliamentary Question, the minister was forced to concede that the number of frontline officers had fallen from 125,799 in March 2010 to 113,134 in March 2015 (Hansard, Written question 34314, April 21st 2016 - http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-04-18/34314/ ).

Funding -

·         At the Autumn Statement George Osborne pledged that “there will be no cuts in the police budget at all. There will be real-terms protection for police funding” (Hansard, November 25th 2015, c. 1373 ).

·         But analysis by the House of Commons Library of the police grant settlement demonstrated that between 2015-16 and 2016-17 there will be a £30m cash reduction in central government funding to police forces, or £160m in real terms (House of Commons Library, Police Funding,  briefing paper  no. 7279, 25 February 2016, http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7279 ).

·         This was confirmed by the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, who said, “We agree with the findings of this analysis that between 2015-16 and 2016-17 there has been a decrease in this element of police funding in real terms” (Letter from Sir Andrew Dilnot to Andy Burnham MP, March 9th 2016 - https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Letter-from-Sir-Andrew-Dilnot-to-Andy-Burnham-MP-090316.pdf ).

·         Osborne and Theresa May have insisted their pledge not to cut police budgets holds good if Police and Crime Commissioners make up the shortfall by pushing through the maximum allowed increase – 2% – in the police precept.

·         But several forces including Greater Manchester, West Midlands and the Prime Minister’s own local force, Thames Valley, have warned that even with maximum increases in their police precept they face cuts to budgets including losing officers (Guardian, March 10th 2016 - http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/10/george-osborne-rebuked-no-cuts-police-budgets-claim )