Yvette Cooper MP

 

The Home Secretary is still ducking the main issue

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:

"The Home Secretary is still ducking the main issue which is the 16,000 police officers being cut and the 20 per cent budget cut as a result of her decisions. At a time when personal crime has gone up by 11 per cent, the Home Secretary is out of touch with the problems communities face.

"The Police Federation said they would accept the Police Arbitration Tribunal conclusion and we had said the Home Secretary should accept it too. Unfortunately the Home Secretary’s handling of this has left police morale at an all-time low.

“Pay restraint was always going to be part of police savings, and Chief Constables have already built that into their plans, though many are sceptical about the extent of the savings these plans will deliver in practice. However even with savings from pay they are still expecting 16,000 police officers to be cut and thousands more staff to go too.

"Today’s speech doesn't get away from the fact that police budgets have been cut by 20 per cent rather than the 12 per cent that Labour supports and that independent experts recommended. None of these pay changes will prevent the biggest drop in police officers for decades. The Home Secretary needs to re-open the police budget for next year before thousands and thousands more officers are lost."

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has said that 16,000 police officers will be lost over the next few years

http://www.hmic.gov.uk/media/adapting-to-austerity-20110721.pdf

Last week Home Office figures showed that 8,000 police officers have been lost since the last general election

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/police-research/hosb0312/