“In 2015, the Tories promised real-terms protection for police budgets. Today, the Home Office have admitted the truth: this is yet another broken promise from Theresa May.

“It’s further evidence, as if we needed it, that the Tories can’t be trusted on crime and policing.

“They’ve failed on policing and crime, and they’ve betrayed both the police and the communities they serve.”

Notes to editor

In the 2015 Spending Review, then Chancellor George Osborne promised there would be “no cuts to the police at all”.

“I am today announcing that there will be no cuts in the police budget at all. There will be real-terms protection for police funding. The police protect us, and we are going to protect the police.”

George Osborne, Hansard, 25 November 2015, c. 1373, https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2015-11-25/debates/15112551000003/SpendingReviewAndAutumnStatement

Today the Home Office has admitted there has been a real-terms cut in funding for the police since 2015. Even when the PCCs’ precept income is included, the Home Office has disclosed that for 2016-17 and 2017-18 each PCC only received sufficient Government funding to ensure “cash flat compared to 2015-16, the Spending Review baseline”. And for 2018-19, when precept income is included, PCCs only received a flat settlement in real terms compared t0 2017-18.

Home Office, Police Funding for England & Wales 2015-2019, 17 July 2018, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/725767/police-funding-england-and-wales-2015-to-2019-hosb1318.pdf

The Home Office have been compelled to publish this document after the PM received a rebuke from the UK Statistics Authority for making misleading claims about this year’s funding settlement.

Sir David Norgrove, Letter to Louise Haigh MP, 20 March 2018, https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Police-Funding-DN-to-Louise-Haigh.pdf