PRESS RELEASE FROM ALISTAIR SRATHERN MP
MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Alistair Strathern, Labour MP for Mid Bedfordshire, has demanded action from the government to provide the funding Bedfordshire Police desperately needs.
Speaking in Parliament recently, Mr Strathern questioned the government on the out of date funding formula for police services, saying residents and police officers were being let down.
His calls were joined by Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister, Alex Norris MP, who pushed the government to announce when the findings from its police funding review would be released.
The Shadow Police Minister agreed with Mr Strathern that the Government needed to provide fair funding by the end of this Parliament.
Last year alone there were 10,569 Anti-Social Behaviour incidents were reported, and a further 4,952 public order offences. But the latest round of funding meant Bedfordshire, joint with Cambridgeshire, is now the fourth lowest funded force in the UK.
The Conservatives own Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire has previously said there is ‘no meat on the bone’ for Bedfordshire Police.
Alistair Strathern MP said:
"Our police officers, police community support officers and all our police staff work tirelessly in dangerous circumstances to keep our communities safe. However, the sad reality is that 14 years of failure by the government caused by their cuts to police resources has seen rates of serious violence shoot up and charge rates plummet.
"Current police officers and local residents who are being let down by the inaction on this. Ministers owe it to them to live up to their previous commitment to ensure a fair formula is delivered in this Parliament"
Speaking in the House of Commons, Shadow Policing Minister Alex Norris MP said:
“[The public] would expect that formulas reflect the need across the country, but also that when promises are made repeatedly over multiple years, that those promises might be kept.
“I think the government ought to rise above that and instead it just looks like they're trying to dodge responsibility."
Alistair has scheduled a number of Police, Crime and Anti-social behaviour workshops, with the aim of bringing police, local councillors and communities together to discuss and act on any issues. The first of these will be at 6:30pm on March 14 at Wilstead Village Hall.
Editor's Notes:
The full exchange in the House of Commons can be seen here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-02-07/debates/E48C116E-515A-464A-9A5C-5A6830461CA7/PoliceGrantReport
Stats on Anti-Social Behaviour from Public Order Offences from ukcrimestats.com
Police funding settlement tables can be seen here, pg 5: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CDP-2023-0031/CDP-2023-0031.pdf
ENDS
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