After a decade of unrelenting Tory austerity, our police forces are being left to pick up the pieces
5 min read
Jo Stevens, Labour MP for Cardiff Central, writes that the effects of austerity on policing and crime are being felt across our communities.
Another week, another Boris Johnson wheeze, another example of his astonishing willingness to use any means at his disposal for his own personal gain.
This time the Prime Minister chose to use a Queen’s Speech to put forward a taxpayer- funded propaganda binge that takes the public for fools, and shows the rotten core at the heart of today’s Conservative Party. After nearly a decade of unrelenting Tory austerity – half of it in league with the Liberal Democrats– communities like mine in Cardiff Central have been under huge pressure.
And what does the Prime Minister have to offer them? A sliver of pie in the sky promises which he has no majority in Parliament to deliver.
Take his already infamous “20,000 new police officers” pledge. What he and his smirking Home Secretary fail to admit is they’ve actually taken a staggering 21,000 frontline police officers off our streets since they entered office in 2010. Instead of a promise to barely take us back to pre-2010 levels, they should listen to hard-working police officers – and millions of other public sector workers – for the 9 years of attacks to their pay, their pensions and their terms and conditions.
Analysis of the government’s own figures shows that over half of police forces across the UK will still see a net loss of officers when compared to 2010, even with the Prime Minister’s pledge. Of course, I’m pleased that South Wales Police looks set to be getting 136 new officers as part of this promise but I share the concerns of our force’s Chief Constable, Matt Jukes, that Cardiff still doesn’t receive any specific capital city funding like London and Edinburgh does.
From the fantastic national sporting events, to the sheer number of people who come and visit our city, we have a unique set of circumstances that demand additional resources. While the government blindly harps on about a headline-grabbing pledge, our police forces and our communities are being left to pick up the pieces of the long-term damage their time in office has created.
From rising knife crime, the surge in antisocial behaviour and drugs offences, to the extraordinary levels of economic crime which simply goes under the radar, communities across the UK are certainly feeling the brunt. The Welsh Labour Government have tried to mitigate the impact of this as much as they can by funding the recruitment of an additional 500 police and community support officers. That’s because the Labour Party recognises one of the critical pressures on forces is community policing capacity.
Everyday, the effects of austerity on policing and crime is being felt across our communities. During the summer, I asked my constituents from right across Cardiff Central to let me know their views in a consultation on crime and community safety. A staggering 87 per cent of respondents felt that crime was rising locally and an even greater 96 per cent of local residents thought our police needed more funding. What really struck me from this survey was how aware people were about the causes of these rises. They knew the effects that cuts to our police and support services in our communities as a result of UK Government austerity have had – and are having – a direct impact on the safety of our streets.
One constituent put it perfectly: “We need proper funding for social services – drug and alcohol services. The probation service needs funding so that it can once again be a provision for supporting offenders, enabling them to find accommodation and employment. No one should ever be discharged from prison with nowhere to go. The police need more funding and officers who can work with communities to develop positive relationships. Schools need more teachers and more support to deal with disruptive pupils to avoid them being excluded. The problem is funding the money after 10 years of cuts.”
I’m quite happy to put the Prime Minister in touch with my constituent if he wants some help with his manifesto but this really hits the nail on the head. The government simply must stop trying to pretend they are about to start properly funding our public services when they have stripped them to the bone for the past decade.
We’ve seen Parliament unlawfully prorogued to silence the voice of our constituents. We’ve seen our police officers used as a backdrop to a cynical pre-election speech made by the Prime Minister. We’ve seen minister after minister lauding their “20,000 extra police” pledge, knowing full well that that wouldn’t even replace the 21,000 frontline police they’ve taken off our streets since 2010. And who is at the helm of this chaos? The architects of the Vote Leave campaign that the Electoral Commission found to have broken the law during the referendum they now say must be delivered “do or die”.
Trust the 2019 Conservative Party to be the party of law and order? Certainly not. Do I trust them to stand up for Welsh communities? Not in a million years.
Jo Stevens is Labour MP for Cardiff Central.
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