Labour announce plan to protect 10,000 police jobs over the next 3 years

Today Labour are launching their Crime and Justice Manifesto, in which they’ll announce their plans to protect over 10,000 police jobs over the next 3 years.

Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper are set say that Labour will introduce a new ‘Local Policing Commitment’, that will ensure there is neighbourhood policing in every area.

Cooper has said that “Neighbourhood policing is far too important to let the Tories destroy it.” Going on to explain  “That’s why Labour is setting out a better plan – including abolishing police and crime commissioners and putting savings back into the frontline so we can keep police on the beat.”

As a result of the Coalition’s cuts, the number of police officers in England and Wales has dropped by 16,000 – the Association of Chief Police Officers have said that another 20% cut in Home Office funding over the next 5 years could see 34,000 more police jobs go – including 22,000 officers – out of a total workforce of 205,000. Labour’s plan was welcomed by former Met Police Commissioner Lord Stevens who described it as “the right plan for neighbourhood policing”.

The party will also make £800 million in efficiency savings (an amount of money they say the Tories can’t match) by getting rid of police and crime commissioners, stopping police subsidy of gun licenses and mandating for joint procurement and sharing support services.

The money saved from these changes would be used to protect 10,000 police jobs in the first three years of the next Parliament.

These plans are also accompanied by a Victims’ Law, which the party would say would put victims at the heart of the criminal justice system and a pledge to tackle child sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls.

Ahead of this launch, Yvette Cooper explained Labour’s police plan

“Labour is determined to protect neighbourhood policing and we are setting out a plan to do it. We will scrap expensive Police and Crime Commissioners, end the police subsidy of gun licenses and introduce a new requirement for joint procurement and shared services to raise £800million in the first three years which Chief Constables will be able to use to protect over 10,000 police officers as well as PCSOs. These are savings the Tories cannot – and will not – make. And we will require police forces to set out their commitment to neighbourhood policing in every area – with local communities and district councils able to set local priorities and hold them to account.”

Other key priorities in the Crime and Justice Manifesto being launched by Labour today include:

• Introducing the country’s first ever Victims’ Law.
• Tackling child sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls
• Reforming prisons to ensure prisoners spend more time working and learning, raising professional standards amongst prison officers and greater scrutiny of those companies running probation services.
• Tackling extremism and the threat of terrorism