Crime and Policing Bill

Debate between Chris Vince and Yvette Cooper

2nd reading
Monday 10th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

rose—

[Yvette Cooper]

I will give way first to my hon. Friend and then to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty).

[Chris Vince]

A report by Harlow council in 2023 stated that fewer than half of residents in Harlow felt safe going outside after dark. Does my right hon. Friend see the neighbourhood policing guarantee as part of the way of solving that problem?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right: neighbourhood policing is crucial, but neighbourhood policing teams have been decimated, and even those that remained were often abstracted or merged with other teams. That has been deeply damaging. It is crucial to get those neighbourhood police back on the streets, back into our town centres, and back into our communities. I give way to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty), who I hope will apologise for the scale of cuts that his party’s Government brought in.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Vince and Yvette Cooper

Monday 21st October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right that we now have thousands fewer police officers and PCSOs on the streets than we had a decade ago. This includes the previous Government halving the number of PCSOs and cutting the number of special constables by two thirds. This newly elected Government are working at pace to introduce a new neighbourhood policing guarantee, putting police officers and PCSOs back on the streets. We have also announced funding and support for the College of Policing to begin the national roll-out of specialist training for neighbourhood officers in order to professionalise and strengthen the work they do in every corner of the country.

[Chris Vince]

I welcome the Home Secretary to her place. My community in Harlow has been let down by the lack of neighbourhood policing. What will the Home Secretary do to address this issue, both through police on the streets and through the resources they have?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. This is a challenge we are facing across the country. The proportion of people saying that they barely ever see the police is now nearly half, up from a quarter when the Conservatives came to power in 2010. This has been deeply damaging to public confidence, and we need the police back on the beat, but they also need the powers to act. That is why we will also bring forward new powers to tackle shoplifting and antisocial behaviour, especially in our town centres.