Jack Dromey MP, Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister, responding to the findings of the HMIC report, said:
 
“Theresa May has cut more police officers than any other country in Europe. With 16,000 gone, the thin blue line is being stretched ever thinner.
 
“The HMIC report provides damning evidence that the decisions made by this Tory-led government are hitting the public ever harder with victims being let down and, extraordinarily, some even being asked to investigate their own crime. Meanwhile, the government have wasted millions on Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
 
“The Home Secretary’s complacency must be galling to those who are struggling to win justice for crimes committed against them. Just yesterday she boasted that her reforms had been a success.
 
“Once again the Tories have been exposed as totally out of touch.”