MP demands an end to ‘vicious, cruel’ cuts to police budgets
The most senior officer in Northumbria has been upfront and honest about the impact of the devastating cuts
LABOUR Party chariman Ian Lavery has told of his fears the impact of savage cuts are having to police budgets.
He spoke out after spending Friday night on the beat with bobbies in his Wansbeck community and in nearby North Tyneside.
The former NUM official was on the streets with Northumbria Police officers just days after a scathing open letter from the force’s chief constable exposed the harsh reality of cuts.
In it Winton Keenen said, since 2010, an “unprecedented” 1,083 police officer jobs have been lost as part of more than £142mcuts.
After an evening on shift with the force, Mr Lavery is now urging other MPs to take part in the “vital, eye-opening experience” and pledged to fight to stop the “vicious and cruel cuts”.
He said: “I would especially extend the invite to those in government, who have slashed Northumbria’s funding and resources, with a loss of over 21,000 police officers nationwide.
“The ignorance to the impact this has on our front-line police officers could soon be cured, when they are seeing the real picture of what is happening and the effort being made to protect local residents and police the streets, despite deep and damaging cuts.”
One officer told him: “These cuts are not just to the bone, they are now beyond the bone. We’re on our knees and doing what we can to survive.”
Those echoed the words of the chief constable, who compared attempts to raise money by selling police buildings with “efforts to keep our heads above water”.
“The stark reality is there have been huge cuts in the amount of money we receive from the Government,” wrote Mr Keenan, adding: “As a direct consequence of the significant budget reductions we continue to experience, we, like other forces, have seen unprecedented reductions in our officers and staff numbers.”
Escorted by Sgt Rebecca Felton, Mr Lavery joined officers on patrol and visited an emergency-call centre and custody suites in Wallsend to witness suspects being checked in.
He said: “Seeing first hand the effort put into keeping our communities safe gives you not only greater respect for those putting themselves in harms way, it also makes you truly understand why we must increase investment, reverse the cuts, employ 10,000 police officers immediately and scrap the pay cap for all public sector workers.
“I would like to pass on my heartfelt thanks to all those who showed me around and took the time to explain to me their very personal experiences of policing under austerity.
“I promise to carry your voices and this message back to parliament and fight even harder alongside my Shadow Cabinet colleagues to end these vicious and cruel cuts to our services and make sure our police officers have the resources and colleagues they need.”
Praising the professionalism of the officers, Mr Lavery added: “It’s a shame that these volatile situations, which can escalate quickly, feel somewhat less secure without the police numbers there were in place before the cuts.”
Before going out on patrol, Mr Lavery spoke out in support of the chief constable’s assessment of how police cuts are affecting the force and condemned “some of the most vicious cuts to public services this country has ever seen.”
He added: “I am alarmed by the comments from Winton Keenan, who as the most senior police officer in the Northumbria force has been upfront and honest about the impact of the Government’s devastating cuts to the police work he is tasked with carrying out.”
In the letter released on Thursday, Mr Keenen revealed that the force was no longer able to afford to send officers to every incident that is reported.
He wrote: “If you were to ask me if we can afford to send an officer to every non-emergency call we receive, my answer would be ‘no, not always.’”
The letter also stated that the force’s financial reserves are the lowest they have ever been, and are the lowest of any force in the UK.
“This is all set against the backdrop of heightened demands, arising not only from higher levels of recorded crime, but also from the complex nature of emerging crime trends such as terrorism, cyber-related offences, modern-day slavery and sexual exploitation,” he said.
In response to the letter, a Home Office spokesperson said: “Police have the resources they need to carry out their vital work,” adding that Northumbria Police is receiving £265m in direct resource funding in 2018-19.
They said: “We know the nature of crime is changing. That is why the Policing Minister spoke to every police force in the country to understand the demands they are facing and why the Home Secretary in May committed to prioritising police funding in next year’s Spending Review.”