division_name: Opposition Day &#8212; Police Funding
motion: <p class="indent" pid="c848.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House asserts that the loss of 21,000 police officers, 18,000 police staff and 6,800 police community support officers since 2010 in addition to the reduction in the number of armed officers has damaged community safety and public security; is concerned that central government funding to local police forces will fall in real terms for the eighth consecutive year in 2018-19 and in addition that there will be a &#163;54m shortfall in funding for counter-terror policing; notes with alarm the assessment of the National Police Chiefs Council that this will mean tough choices for policing in the year ahead; supports the conclusion of the UK Statistics Authority that the Prime Minister could have led the public to conclude incorrectly that the Government were providing an additional &#163;450m for police spending in 2018-19; and calls on the Government to take steps to increase officer numbers by 10,000 and to fulfil the full counter-terrorism policing requirements laid out by police chiefs for the year ahead and to report to the House by Oral Statement and written report before <phrase class="date" code="2018-04-19">19 April</phrase> 2018 on what steps it is taking to comply with this resolution.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c848.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the Prime Minister&#8217;s statement&#8230;could have led the public to conclude incorrectly that central government is providing an additional &#163;450 million for police spending in 2018/19.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c848.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;that policing is under significant stress. On occasions, that stress stretches some forces to such an extent that they risk being unable to keep people safe in some very important areas of policing.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c851.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;legitimacy of policing is at risk as the relationship with communities&#8230;is fading to a point where prevention, early intervention and core engagement&#8230;are&#8230;ineffective.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c852.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;we have a bigger proportion of our investigations that are at the bottom of the pile and getting little or no work at the moment.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c854.3/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I think we can make some further savings. I am confident that the Met at the end of my commissionership might be smaller but could be as effective, if not more effective, through amongst other things the use of technology and different ways of working.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c862.3/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The Met has little choice but to re-organise. It has to do something to meet increased demand with a reduced workforce and fewer buildings after successive cuts to its budget.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c863.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The terrorist attacks put big demands on counter-terrorism policing, but also on the Met police. For every pound spent by counter-terrorism policing, &#163;2 is spent out of the Met budget to respond.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c868.2/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We are too afraid to leave our homes after dark. We feel under siege in our own community.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c868.2/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;When I am coming in on a night I feel very vulnerable.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c868.2/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Whatever niceties are put in place in this town will be ruined in this lawless place.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c868.2/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Bring back our police. At the moment it&#8217;s such a scary place to live.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c878.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Eddie has been voting for cuts to our force&#8217;s budget in parliament&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c878.2/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;As the Minister for Policing&#8217;s statement outlined, up to &#163;270 million of the funding settlement will come from local council tax&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c878.2/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;In addition, the Leader of the House of Commons stated that the &#163;270 million that can be raised locally was on top of the&#8230;&#163;450 million.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c882.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The police alone cannot tackle gun crime. The causes are deep rooted in society and in order to reduce it requires all relevant agencies to work together and I am fully aware that all those agencies have been subject to draconian budget cuts also.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c888.0/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;My officers cannot cope with the demand and no-one seems to be listening... Things cannot go on as they are. My officers are exhausted.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c890.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;central government funding to local police forces will fall in real terms for the eighth consecutive year in 2018-19&#8221;;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c890.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;shortfall in funding for counter-terrorism policing&#8221;;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c890.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;not just protecting police budgets, but increasing them with an extra &#163;450 million.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2018-02-07">7 February</phrase> 2018; Vol. 635, c. 1485.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c891.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Relying on local taxpayers while slashing funding from Westminster will mean tough choices about priorities for many local forces.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c891.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the Prime Minister&#8217;s statement and the Home Office&#8217;s tweet could have led the public to conclude incorrectly that central government is providing an additional &#163;450 million for police spending&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c892.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;In 2018-19, we will provide each police and crime commissioner (PCC) with the same amount of core Government grant funding as in 2017-18.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2018-01-31">31 January</phrase> 2018; Vol. 635, c. 25WS.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c892.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;For every &#163;1 of counter terrorism funding spent in response to an incident, around &#163;2 is spent on necessary additional non-counter terrorism activity, which has to come from wider policing budgets.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c892.1/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We do not have the resources to keep residents safe.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c893.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;My officers cannot cope with the demand and no-one seems to be listening.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c893.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We&#8217;ve got emergency calls going up, we&#8217;ve got crime going up nationally and in London&#8230;Police chiefs will do all they can to protect the public from terrorism. We will make choices about what we prioritise and where we invest. Some of these choices may be difficult and unpalatable to the public&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c893.1/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;failing to fully meet the level of investment identified.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c893.1/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;About a quarter of forces are all too often overwhelmed by the demand they face, resulting in worrying backlogs of emergency jobs&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="italic" pid="c896.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">The House divided:</p>
  
  <p pid="c896.2/4" pwmotiontext="yes">Ayes 203, Noes 0.</p>