Lord Weir of Ballyholme
Main Page: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Weir of Ballyholme's debates with the Home Office
(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)
The fraud strategy will be published this week.
Lord Weir of Ballyholme (DUP)
My Lords, while the Government make a virtue of the fact that police numbers in England have started to turn marginally upwards, in Northern Ireland we have reached a point at which the security threat is the highest it has been for many years from terrorist and dissident organisations, and yet the number of police officers in Northern Ireland is perhaps the lowest it has been in many decades, if not the entire history of the state. What representations have Ministers been making to their colleagues in the Northern Ireland Office to ensure that the citizens of Northern Ireland are given an equal level of protection from crime and terrorist actions?
Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)
The picture that the noble Lord paints is obviously concerning. I will say that this is not a marginal uplift but a substantial uplift. As regards specific circumstances in Northern Ireland, I am afraid I cannot answer his question on the numbers, but I will investigate and come back to him.