The Conservative government’s policing cuts were even deeper than previously estimated, with potentially thousands of officers and PCSOs miscounted, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has revealed.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Cooper criticised the Tories’ handling of police numbers, stating that neighbourhood policing had been reduced by more than 10,000 officers, while the method of counting these roles was inaccurate and unreliable.
Her comments came as the Government introduced the new Crime and Policing Bill, which aims to recruit 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing officers and implement new measures to combat knife crime and anti-social behaviour.
Neighbourhood policing cuts more severe than estimated
Opening the debate on the Bill’s second reading, Ms Cooper condemned the previous government’s approach to neighbourhood policing, stating that the extent of cuts had been underreported due to flawed counting methods.
“The previous Conservative government was so indifferent to neighbourhood policing that they did not even keep a proper count of who was doing that work.
“They treated neighbourhood police officers just the same as 999 response officers or local detective teams, and the Home Office allowed forces to misreport response officers as neighbourhood police instead.
“As a result, I can tell the House that hundreds and even thousands of officers and PCSOs were miscounted under the last government.”
Ms Cooper stated that, later this month, the Home Office and the National Police Chiefs’ Council would publish revised police force figures, enabling communities to see the true scale of policing reductions in their areas.
She also criticised the Conservatives for halving the number of PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers) and restricting the number of neighbourhood police officers by at least 10,000.
“But you know what? We can’t even be precise, because their measuring of neighbourhood police officers was so ropey and so all over the place that we can’t even be certain what the precise cuts were.”
Government’s plans for neighbourhood policing
Ms Cooper reaffirmed the Labour Government’s commitment to increasing neighbourhood policing and PCSOs, confirming the recruitment of 13,000 additional officers as part of the new Crime and Policing Bill.
“This Government is committed to increasing neighbourhood policing and PCSOs by 13,000,” she said.
The Bill also includes new measures to tackle crime, particularly focusing on knife offences and anti-social behaviour.
Tougher laws to tackle knife crime
Ms Cooper highlighted the Bill’s provisions on knife crime, which include harsher sentences for those caught carrying or selling illegal weapons.
“The Bill increases the maximum penalties for offences related to the sale and possession of offensive weapons from six months to two years’ imprisonment.”
Additionally, she announced plans to tighten regulations on online knife sales, introducing a two-step age verification system, requiring customers to:
- Submit photo ID at the point of purchase
- Provide ID again upon delivery
“It’ll be a legal requirement to hand a package containing a knife only to the buyer and not to any third party,” she added.
Ms Cooper also outlined plans to introduce personal liability measures for senior managers of online platforms that fail to act against illegal knife sales.
“We’ll introduce a requirement for sellers to report bulk or suspicious knife sales to the police.
“We’ve seen cases where young people have effectively become arms traders, buying huge numbers of illegal weapons and distributing them within their communities.
“That should never have been allowed, and this Bill will stop it from happening again.”
New offences for spiking and sex offenders
The Crime and Policing Bill also proposes new criminal offences, including:
- A specific criminal offence for spiking, to tackle the rising cases of drink and drug spiking.
- Stronger restrictions on registered sex offenders, preventing them from changing their names without police approval.
“Sex offenders will only be able to change their name on official documents—such as passports or online aliases—if officers monitoring them agree to it,” Ms Cooper confirmed.
She also announced that grooming would be considered an aggravated factor in child sexual offence cases, ensuring harsher penalties for offenders.
“Grooming is one of the most vile and damaging of crimes, and this Bill ensures that perpetrators face the full weight of the law.”
Shadow home secretary: Bill Is ‘copied and pasted’ from tory proposals
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the Labour Government of simply replicating policies from previous Conservative proposals.
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“I congratulate her for using the CTRL+C and CTRL+V function on her Home Office computer,” he quipped.
He also warned that police forces could still face cuts unless the Government provides additional funding.
“The funding pressures for this coming financial year are about £116 million more than the funding increase.
“The consequence of that gap is that police forces may have to cut 1,800 officers just to balance the books.”
Call for national inquiry into grooming gangs
Mr Philp further criticised the Government for only setting up local inquiries into grooming gangs, rather than a national statutory investigation.
“For some reason, the Government has only set up local inquiries in five areas.
“We know about 50 towns are affected, so having inquiries into just five is not good enough.”
He announced that the Conservatives would table an amendment to the Bill calling for a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs.
“If the Government won’t do it, we will amend this Bill to ensure it happens.
“We need to get to the truth.”
Bill moves to next stage
Despite criticism from the Opposition, the Crime and Policing Bill received an unopposed second reading in the Commons.
The Bill will now undergo further scrutiny before being passed into law.
