Liberal Democrat analysis of new Home Office figures, published this week, has revealed that the Conservative Government cut funding to Essex Police by 6.1% in real terms between 2015-16 and 2019-20. According to Liberal Democrat analysis, total government funding to all 43 forces (in 2019-20 prices) fell from £8.48 billion in 2015-16 to £7.99 billion in 2019-20. 32 of the 43 forces across the country experienced cuts of 6% or more.
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Ed Davey said: “Across the country, we are seeing rising crime and falling police. Far too many people now feel unsafe walking down their own streets. “Taking 5,000 police off our streets in the last four years and cutting funding in real-terms by £490 million from 2015-16 to 2019-20 are big Tory crimes.” the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Rochford District added: “Inflicting 6.1% cuts on our local police force over the last four years, given concerns about knife crime, shows just how out of touch the Tories are. “The Liberal Democrats demand better. We will give police forces the resources they need to recruit more officers and restore community policing so that we can make our streets safer and make people feel safer too.”
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Notes to editors:
The data is from the Home Office statistical bulletin Police funding for England and Wales 2015 to 2020, published today. The 2015-16 figures have been converted to 2019-20 prices using HM Treasury’s latest GDP deflators. The calculations of real-terms cuts for each police force can be found here.