Labour in pledge to put extra 853 police on streets of Wales
LABOUR has begun a general election fightback in Wales by announcing that if it wins on June 8, an additional 853 community-based police officers will be employed.
Shocked last week by an opinion poll that suggested the Conservatives were on course to win most seats in Wales for the first time since the 1850s, Labour says it aims to claw back support by running a campaign based on hope and optimism.
Elsewhere in the General Election campaign, Prime Minister Theresa May last night hit back over claims she was at loggerheads with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. He was reported to have walked out of Downing Street talks saying he was “10 times more sceptical than before” over the UK’s Brexit negotiating strategy.
Labour’s manifesto will not be published until the week beginning May 15, but in the meantime there will be a succession of policy announcements the party believes will have popular appeal.
Across Wales and England, an incoming Labour government would provide funding that would enable the 43 forces to hire an extra 10,000 officers operating in community policing roles.
In Wales, this would mean at least 853 new police officers – one for every electoral ward in the country. Specific deployment across Wales’ forces would be down to what Labour describes as “operational factors”.
The additional officers would be
funded by reversing cuts to Capital Gains Tax.
Labour said the 853 new officers would be in addition to the 500 additional Community Support Officers already funded by the Welsh Government.
Since the Conservatives came to power at Westminster in 2010, police numbers in Wales have been slashed by more than 10%, with the total police workforce falling from 7,639 to 6,625.
Shadow Welsh Secretary Christina Rees said: “Despite their promises to protect our communities, the Tories at Westminster have slashed Welsh police numbers. Their reckless approach has put Welsh communities at risk.
“Labour will stand up for Wales and reduce crime by putting more police in the community, with funding for an extra bobby on the beat in each electoral ward.”
Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children Carl Sargeant said: “The Labour Party’s plans to increase police numbers in Wales show how a Labour government at Westminster would work with our Welsh Labour Government to protect communities and stand up for Wales.
“By funding 853 new police officers alongside the 500 Community Support Officers that the Welsh Labour Government is already funding, Labour will continue to deliver for the people of Wales, working to make our communities safer.”
In the 2016 Westminster Budget it was announced that the higher rate of Capital Gains Tax will be cut from 28% to 20% and the basic rate from 18% to 10%. The cost to public services of this tax giveaway over the next five years will be £2.745bn.
Labour’s commitment states: “Instead of tax giveaways on the accumulated increase in the value of assets, a Labour government will support the police to make all our communities safer.”
The promise of extra police officers came after a visit to Cardiff and Newport by Andrew Gwynne, who is chairing Labour’s election campaign across Britain.
Mr Gwynne, who is seeking reelection as MP for the Manchester seat of Denton and Reddish, acknowledged that Labour was behind in the polls.
But he said: “Our strategy is to have a platform that expresses optimism and hope.
“We believe the programme we put before voters will be transformational, just as the one put forward by Labour exactly 20 years ago at the 1997 general election was transformational.
“We will be contrasting the kind of country Britain could be under Labour with the very difficult place it could become uner a re-elected Conservative government. Labour would govern for the many, not the few, and that will be a central theme of our campaign.”
When it was put to Mr Gwynne that comparing Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 to Tony Blair in 1997 was extraordinary, given that unlike Mr Blair, Mr Corbyn had neither a big poll lead nor the support of his own MPs, the elections chief said: “We shall be running the same kind of positive campaign as in 1997, putting forward a vision of Britain that everyone will have a stake in.”
He accepted that the party’s campaign in 2015 had shortcomings, and hadn’t had the broad appeal which Labour was now seeking.
“I very much hope that when people see our manifesto they will come to the conclusion that we are the party that offers a positive vision for the future.
“We’ve already made a number of policy announcements, and will continue to do so until the manifesto is published.
“But we are asking people to support us not simply on the basis of specific policies we propose that will be fully costed, but on the basis of our overall message about a society that works for the many, not just the few.”
Mr Gwynne said a number of people on the doorstep had spoken about Theresa May’s “robotic” use of her campaign slogan “Strong and Stable Leadership”.
He said: “An increasing number of people are noticing that the Conservatives’ style is to take over a community hall and use it as a venue for a party rally from which ordinary members of the public are excluded.
“There have been such events where not even journalists have been allowed in to ask questions.
“This is entirely opposite to Jeremy Corbyn’s way of campaigning, which is to meet as many people as possible.
“There is something wrong about the fact that she is refusing to debate on TV with the Leader of the Opposition. What is she frightened of? It seems she doesn’t want to be scrutinised.
“The ball is now in the Conserva-
tives’ court. Jeremy is very keen to debate with her on TV and we still hope she will change her mind.”
Mr Gwynne’s visit came days after a YouGov poll for ITV Wales and Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre showed Labour 10 percentage points behind the Conservatives in Wales.
A projection based on a uniform swing would see the Conservatives taking 10 seats from Labour, including Cardiff South and Penarth, Cardiff West, Newport East, Newport West and Bridgend in South Wales and Alyn and Deeside, Clwyd South, Delyn, Wrexham and Ynys Mon in north Wales.
This would leave the Conservatives as the biggest party in Wales with 21 seats, Labour on 15, Plaid Cymru on 3 and the Liberal Democrats on 1.
Subsequent polls have suggested that Labour’s lead in Wales could be the highest in all the nations and regions of Britain, including the south east of England – a wholly unprecedented situation, given that Labour has been dominant in Wales for a century.