Time for home comfort

Ill-thought out projects which see the public suffer with little return on their investment are a speciality of this Government.

And for a change we’re not talking about Brexit.

While our political paymasters obsess themselves with the detail (and profound lack of it) of our protracted withdrawal from the EU, the troubles on our doorstep continue to mount.

Perhaps the most pressing of all is highlighted today by Police and Crime Commissioners. Despite Mrs May trumpeting an end to austerity at her Tory conference, we are once again reporting on the poorest paying more to help fund a police service struggling to make ends meet.

All three commissioners for the North East have put their heads above the parapet to slam the Home Secretary Sajid Javid for increasing council tax bills to fund policing.

Crime is a huge issue with families in our community and for too long they have seen the crime figures rise and the funding fall below expectations.

The public understands their taxes need to help fund crime-fighting, but to be pressed into paying more without satisfactory return sticks in the craw.

Dame Vera Baird QC expresses the situation well.

She said: “Once again they are moving the burden of proper police funding onto hard-pressed council tax payers through the police precept.

“£24 a year is an increase of a quarter on the burden on local families who deserve better, but we do not want instead to be forced to make yet more cuts to our vital policing services.”

It’s time the politicians tore themselves away from Europe and tackled the problems at home.