This weekend, thousands of Labour supporters took to the doorsteps to campaign against the Tories’ cruel cuts to the police. Here’s Diane Abbott on why Action Saturday is so important.

This Saturday, thousands of Labour supporters gathered up and down the country and took a giant step towards kicking the Tories out of power. We hit doorsteps in key battleground areas like Wandsworth, Halifax and Worcester to speak to constituents about how the Tories’ police cuts impact them.

The Tories’ cuts are devastating our communities and leaving them exposed. Under the Tories, more than 21,000 police officers have been axed and recorded crime is rising at the fastest rate in a decade.

The service is now in severe crisis. Police Chiefs have warned that the funding offered by the Tories is simply not enough to meet the growing demands faced by the police. Yet the Tories continue to insist that police have the resources they need, and to falsely claim they have protected funding, proving just how out of touch they are.

Here’s the Tories’ thinning blue line.



The Metropolitan Police, like almost every other police force across the country, has suffered under the Tories – £700m has been lost from policing in London alone.

Despite the cuts, Labour is committed to keeping communities safe, and Sadiq Khan has pledged to get an extra 1000 bobbies back on London’s streets. And we won’t stop there – in government, Labour will recruit 10,000 more police officers to work on community beats.

But as the Mayor has made clear, rises in local taxes in London or elsewhere cannot compensate for the billions that have been cut to the central Government grant since the Tories came into power in 2010.

You cannot keep our communities safe on the cheap. It’s as simple as that.

Labour’s commitment to policing and public safety is clear, but we need you to stand with us to make the Tories commit to funding our police force and keeping our streets safe.

To all those who campaigned with us, thank you.

