Rachel Reeves sparks contemporary fury as row erupts over police funding | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Rachel Reeves dismissed police claims officers can be pressured to decide on which crimes they examine amid a rising funding battle.

Senior police chiefs and Government watchdogs have written to the Prime Minister warning they are going to be pressured to make tough selections if spending cuts are introduced by the Chancellor subsequent Wednesday.

In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, Sir Mark Rowley – the top of the Metropolitan Police – and different senior chiefs, warned cuts to police budgets could have “far-reaching consequences”.

The letter from the police chiefs mentioned negotiations between the Treasury and the Home Office have been going “poorly”.

But the Chancellor informed reporters: “We will be increasing spending on police in the spending review next week, so that’s not a decision… or a choice that I would recognise.”

Meanwhile, in a separate letter, Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales Dame Nicole Jacobs and Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales Baroness Helen Newlove wrote to Sir Keir saying sufferer help companies are being “pushed to the brink”, hit by funding cuts and rising prices.

It learn: “A settlement that fails to address our inflation and pay pressures would entail stark choices about which crimes we no longer prioritise.”

Last week, senior law enforcement officials – together with Sir Mark – wrote a letter within the Times calling for “serious investment” within the spending overview, which is able to set out the Government’s day-to-day departmental budgets for the following three years.

“A lack of investment will bake in the structural inefficiencies for another three years and will lose a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the service,” the letter warned.

Dame Nicole and Baroness Newlove welcomed Sir Keir’s “personal commitment to halving violence against women and girls within a decade” of their letter, however mentioned they’re involved “funding cuts and scaled back ambition are leading to piecemeal policies”.

They referred to as for a “clear, well-funded national approach to prevent and respond to abuse, violence, and exploitation of women and girls”.

They added: “With bold and ambitious investment, we can finally tackle the systemic stain of violence and abuse, one that would see us get to grips with misogyny, ensure victims can recover from trauma, and build a criminal justice system that delivers for survivors every single time.”

On Wednesday, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander denied a few of her Cabinet colleagues are engaged in a row over funding for the police.

“I’m not privy to any of those conversations,” she mentioned, including there’s a “really collegiate atmosphere around the Cabinet table on the part of every single Cabinet member”.

A Home Office spokesperson mentioned: “We are backing the police to protect our communities and keep our streets safe with up to £17.6 billion this year, an increase of up to £1.2 billion.

“This consists of £200 million to kickstart placing 13,000 extra neighbourhood law enforcement officials, PCSOs and particular constables that the general public will see again on their streets and patrolling communities, as a part of our Plan for Change.”