Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to Home Secretary admitting this morning that Police numbers are an ‘important part’ of tackling violent crime, said:

“Even though the Prime Minister has previously denied the link between police numbers and levels of crime, the Home Secretary has admitted that police numbers are vital in tackling rising crime. It was Tory governments who cut 21,000 police officers.

“You cannot keep people safe on the cheap and those cuts have had terrible consequences. Knife and other crime are rising sharply and police chiefs across the country say they are close to breaking point. Yet there was no new funding in the Chancellor’s Budget.

“If the Home Secretary is serious, he needs to demand the funds to stop the cuts to policing and begin to reverse the damage they have done. Otherwise, these are just empty words from a government failing to tackle rising crime.”

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