Neighbourhood Policing: West Midlands
Debate between Marco Longhi and Valerie Vaz(3 years ago)
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Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)
It is a real pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. I thank the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey) for securing the debate. This Government value all our police officers. That is why, with our 11,053 extra police officers, we are not on target, but ahead of target to deliver our manifesto pledge of 20,000 new officers; there are 867 new officers already working in the west midlands.
The financial settlement gave West Midlands police an inflation-busting 5.8% increase to its budget—a staggering £36 million. In addition, the rises in local tax that residents pay, together with council tax, put West Midlands police at the top of league tables across the country for precept increases; since 2012, a staggering increase of 79% has been imposed on people in Dudley North and across the west midlands by the Labour police and crime commissioner.
Dudley people—and those across the west midlands, I am certain—can see that effective policing is about more than just money. It is about local decision making and how that filters down from the chief constable and the police and crime commissioner.
Marco Longhi
I would rather not, just now. The facts sadly speak for themselves. We need the right strategy for deploying all the new police officers we recruit, making the right decisions locally, and having the will and competence to deliver on them. The Labour police and crime commissioner has closed dozens of police stations, while spending more than £30 million on refurbishing plush offices at his headquarters in Lloyd House in Birmingham.