Broken promises on Police funding

My article in last week's Cornish Guardian focussed on the broken promises of the Coalition with regard to police funding. I have covered this topic before but, for completeness, it was as follows:

Leading up to the 2010 General Election, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats promised that they would protect policing and put more bobbies on the beat.

At the time, local voters in Mid Cornwall received numerous editions of a Conservative newsletter titled “Coast to Coast.”

Edition no. 6 included a statement from the-then shadow Home Secretary Nick Grayling. He claimed: “It is dishonest to claim that we will cut police officer numbers. In fact, our plans to cut bureaucracy and red tape mean that there would be more police on the street, fighting crime and protecting local communities.”

And in their final “Coast to Coast” election special, the Tory candidate stated: “The Conservative treasury team are assiduous in making sure that MPs and candidates like me don’t make any uncosted promises. We have done the sums and can say with confidence that we will … put more police on patrol.”

The Liberal Democrats made similar claims. In their “Heart of Cornwall Journal” newsletter, they said: “Making the streets of Cornwall safe is a top priority for local people in Cornwall … the Lib Dems have said they would recruit 10,000 more police officers across the country – and an extra 223 officers on the streets of Devon and Cornwall.”

I therefore find it unconscionable that both parties have failed to live up to their election pledges and have undermined policing with their devastating cuts.

Over the last four years, they slashed funding to the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary by £50 million, which has lead to the loss of about 500 police officers and 400 civilian support staff, as well as other changes such as the closure of public desks at local police stations.

And last month, the Home Office confirmed that police forces covering Cornwall, England and Wales will have their central government funding cut by £299 million in the next financial year.

This means that the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary will have to cut a further £9 million from its 2015/2016 budget.

It is shameful that the Coalition parties have refused to follow through with their election promises and continue to do such terrible damage to those public services that local people depend upon.

I would have anticipated some remorse for their failings, but I have seen none in the latest batch of Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaflets being delivered in advance of the upcoming General Election.