Stop Labour's north west police cuts (Garston and Halewood Liberal Democrats)

Garston and Halewood Liberal Democrats <info@garstonld.org.uk>

Stop Labour's north west police cuts

September 28, 2007 12:00 AM

Police on the Beat Top North West Liberal Democrat Mark Hunter, Member of Parliament for Cheadle, will tomorrow, (Saturday 29th October 2007), launch a blistering attack on Prime Minister Gordon Brown's failure to support proper levels of police funding in the North West, whilst financially backing a growth in neighbourhood police numbers in London.

Mark Hunter MP will be delivering the keynote speech at the North West of England Liberal Democrats' Regional Conference at Winsford Civic Centre in Cheshire during the morning session.

Mr Hunter will say "This week in Bournemouth we have seen Labour Cabinet Ministers, some of them from the North West, engage in a shocking display of self indulgence over whether they will deign to call a General Election or not. This arrogant show of Labour navel-gazing has been put on against a backdrop of high levels of fear and concern amongst North West residents about crime levels in the region.

Greater Manchester has seen a reduction of over 200 Police Officers, there has been a cut of 47 in the number of Police Officers in Cheshire and the Labour Government have said no to the Chief Constable of Merseyside's request for 200 additional Police Officers to help cope with the millions of extra visitors expected next year in Liverpool for the 2008 City of Culture celebrations.

Time and money that could have been spent on front-line policing was also wasted last year on Labour's half-baked, and now abandoned, attempts to merge Police forces in Cheshire and Merseyside, and, Cumbria and Lancashire.

It's no wonder that the people of the North West region are worried and angry that Gordon Brown's Labour Government are being soft on crime in the North West whilst London's streets are seeing neighbourhood policing teams of 6 Police Officers allocated to each Council Ward. We don't have anything like that number of Officers specifically earmarked for each of our North West Council Wards, and yet, in far too many parts of the region, crime levels are unacceptably high."

Mark Hunter added "I will tomorrow be launching the 'Target 10,000' petition, at our Conference, asking for the support of 10,000 North West residents to sign a Petition calling for 10,000 more Police Officers across the country, including our region. Our Petition will take the message to Gordon Brown from the North West that we need fair funding for our Police Forces in the region to help tackle the damage of crime levels that are too high."

Regional Chair Councillor Gill Gardiner, who will open the Conference in Winsford, said "Our Conference tomorrow will focus on crime as a key concern of North West residents. As Liberal Democrats we have doubled our number of MPs and doubled our number of MEPs in the last three years in the North West region. We are the effective, alternative voice to Labour in the North West and we are determined to stop the region losing out on police funding."