Julian shares this latest news on behalf of Isle of Wight Labour Party. Ed
Today (Wednesday), Labour Parliamentary Spokesperson, Julian Critchley, attacked Conservative cuts to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight police budget.
Crime figures released this week show crime rising on the Island faster than the national average, with particularly troubling increases in violent crime.
Where will the axe fall?
Meanwhile, Hampshire and Isle of Wight police budgets are to be slashed by £23 million, and senior officers are on the Island looking at where the axe will fall.
Councillor Critchley said:
“Given the recent crime statistics, I am appalled that local police budgets are to be cut by £23m. We already have a situation in which people are concerned for the safety of their family and property. I know the local police will do their best to maintain services as well as they can, but quite clearly the cuts are in danger of exacerbating an already rising trend in crime.
“The first duty of any government is to keep its citizens safe. That is why Labour pledged in the election to put another 10,000 officers on the streets. But the Conservatives are doing the reverse.
“Indeed it’s a ‘double-whammy’: by continuing to push their policies of creating a low-wage, high-insecurity economy, they create the conditions in which crime festers; then they cut police budgets to make it harder for our officers to protect our communities from that crime.
“I’m angry that we have a Government which is paralysed in every other way, with failing Brexit negotiations, Ministerial incompetence and scandals. Yet somehow the cuts to our public services go on, day after day. This is rank incompetence from a chaotic and sleazy government. A new election cannot come soon enough.”
