Police Federation

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 15th April 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Member for Pendle and Clitheroe (Jonathan Hinder) for highlighting the good work done by the federation, and for sharing his personal stories and experiences. Some of the things he referred to would have been incredibly harrowing; I am not sure I could deal with any of them.

I will take a slightly different point of view. I have a very good working relationship with the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, which is well respected by police officers on the ground. I will not refer to the same things as the hon. Gentleman, because I do not have any personal experiences of them happening—as far as I am aware, they are not happening now. Maybe someone will come to me later and say, “Well, actually, this is not right”, but while the federation is not perfect, I am not perfect, nor is the hon. Gentleman or anyone else in this Chamber, and that is how we are in this world.

It is also nice to see the Minister in her place; there is no doubt that she is earning her money. She was in the Chamber all yesterday afternoon and is now back to take on another role in Westminster Hall, but she is still smiling. She has done well, and I wish her well.

The Police Federation plays a tremendous role in supporting individual members, from not only the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Royal Ulster Constabulary before them, but the corporate body of policing. Now more than ever, we need people in the know advocating for police personnel and the service in general. For years, I have taken the advice of the police and the federation, and have asked for greater resources for them as an elected representative. We advocated for them in the Assembly, of which I was a Member for 12 years before coming here, and in this place, where we have warned of a gathering storm.

We also warned about the issue of wages, which the hon. Gentleman rightly highlighted. He referred to pensions, which police officers back home are having problems with as well. We warned that if our police service is starved of the financial muscle that it needs, we will lose not just numbers on a spreadsheet but safety on the streets. The Police Federation for Northern Ireland, and, indeed, each federation, has delivered a wake-up call that should ring in the ears of every Minister in Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland—that our police service has been reduced to a skeleton.

The hon. Gentleman referred to wages, and the men and women of the PSNI are not just employees but the glue holding society together. I put on record my thanks to each and every one of them for all they do, yet what is their reward? They face a £23 million deficit while waiting months for the pay rises that they earned in the line of fire, which was literal, not just a matter words, for many officers in Northern Ireland.

I know that this issue is devolved and that the Minister does not have a specific role in relation to this, but she has had numerous visits to Northern Ireland, so I am sure that she has had the opportunity to talk to the police service, and particularly the chief constable, who also comes over here on occasion. However, the funding is centrally allocated, and this issue is replicated throughout this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We need a UK-wide uplift in funding to support officers to do their jobs.

In his introduction, the hon. Member for Pendle and Clitheroe referred to some of the things that happen to police officers, and I will give a couple of examples. Their vehicles are rammed in the car chases we see on TV programmes. In Belfast and across Northern Ireland, such chases happen all the time and are just as aggressive, nasty and criminal as they are on TV. Police officers are spat on and verbally abused. They are assaulted nine times a day, on average—for a police officer, man or woman, every day is a difficult day of challenge—only to see the perpetrators walk away with measly fines and suspended sentences, when they should clearly have more. Little wonder that the Police Federation highlights low morale. Enough is enough. We need deterrent sentencing that sends a no-nonsense message: “If you touch a police officer, you will feel the full weight of the law.” The time must fit the crime.

The effectiveness of the Police Federation can be measured only in our response to its reports, to its advocacy and to its recent pleas on behalf of its personnel, who need greater support from this place. I know that the Minister, like all hon. Members here, will want to thank the federation for performing its thankless task, and to thank police officers individually and collectively for all they do. More than that, we need the Minister to act on the federation’s words and to support those who do a vital job at great personal cost.

I know that the Minister visits Northern Ireland on a semi-regular basis. I would be interested to hear what discussions she has had with Chief Constable Jon Boutcher and his personnel. I am personally indebted to them for their protection and for all they do for my constituents and people across Northern Ireland. We would not have a society without the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and without the Police Federation for Northern Ireland to look after the PSNI.