Sunak pledges to put 8,000 more bobbies on the beat
RISHI SUNAK has pledged to recruit an extra 8,000 “bobbies on the beat” to tackle car thefts, burglaries and antisocial behaviour.
The officers will be specifically dedicated to neighbourhood policing to ensure people “feel safe” in the areas where they live.
The £650 million plan will be included in the Tories’ manifesto, which is being published tomorrow, and will be funded by a 25 per cent increase on all visas for foreign workers and visitors, and a 30 per cent increase in the health surcharge for overseas students. It would take the total number of police officers in the UK to their highest level at nearly 180,000, eclipsing the previous peak of 172,000 in 2010, the last year of the Labour government.
It comes after an extra 20,000 officers were recruited in England and Wales in the three years to last April.
Mr Sunak said: “People deserve to feel safe in their neighbourhood. More bobbies on the beat and increased powers will give police forces the tools they need to drive down neighbourhood crime even further. Labour has no plan and no idea how to fund more police officers. Without a plan, crime will only go up, as we’ve seen in areas with a Labour police and crime commissioner. Our clear plan will create a more secure future for neighbourhoods up and down the country.”
The Tories have been criticised for a rise in crime recorded by police, including near-record levels of knife offences.
Labour has said it plans to put an extra 13,000 more police and police community support officers (PCSOS) on the streets, but Mr Sunak will claim that the plan for 8,000 fully warranted officers is better than that. Labour is proposing 3,000 extra officers, 4,000 PCSOS – who do not have powers of arrest – 3,000 special constables and 3,000 officers ring-fenced from the previous 20,000 increase.
It comes ahead of a second sevenway TV debate involving representatives from all the parties on Thursday, and Sky’s leader interviews with Mr Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday. Last Friday, Reform leader Nigel Farage used the first seven-way debate to claim crime was “so bad that people generally don’t even bother to report it.”
Writing in The Telegraph today. James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, says: “Anti-social behaviour, burglaries and violent crime can wreak havoc on an otherwise peaceful neighbourhood. We will make it clear that these criminals have no place in a Conservative Britain.”
The extra officers will be recruited over the next parliament, reaching 8,000 in 2027-28, equivalent to an additional “bobby on the beat” for every ward in England and Wales.
The funding will come with conditions that the extra officers cannot be removed from neighbourhood duties unless there are exceptional reasons. To ensure a genuine increase, forces will be barred from using them to replace current bobbies on the beat.
Visa fees, excluding the health surcharge to fund the NHS, have risen from £184million in 2003, when the Blair government introduced them, to £2.2billion in 2022. They have been increased since then, with the health surcharge increasing 66 per cent last year. The 25 per cent increase will mean visitor fees will increase from £115 to £144, and skilled workers will go up from £719 to £899, while the surcharge for students will jump from £750 to £1035.
The Tory manifesto will also pledge to roll out hotspot policing – where officers focus on known problem areas for crime and anti-social behaviour – across England and Wales.