Labour council leader welcomes ‘policing pledge’

Councillor Warren Morgan, Leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group on Brighton and Hove City Council, has welcomed a national Labour pledge to protect neighbourhood policing.

IF elected in May, Labour will introduce a new ‘Local Policing Commitment’, which makes sure police forces guarantee neighbourhood policing in every area.

Cllr Morgan said: “I spent four years working for Sussex Police, and almost a decade chairing the crime prevention forum in my ward, so I know how important neighbourhood policing is. Across Brighton and Hove our PCSOs are valued by local communities as are our local PCs and Sergeants for their local knowledge and commitment. It’s vital that we vote to protect our local police from Tory cuts.”

Labour will set out £800 million worth of efficiency savings a year to enable Chief Constables to safeguard over 10,000 police officers from cuts scheduled by the Conservative Government. The savings – all of which have been ruled out by the Tories – include scrapping police and crime commissioners and halving the cost of police governance; ending the police subsidy of gun licenses; mandating joint procurement and sharing support services.

Labour say the Tories plan to cut over a thousand officers in Sussex in the next five years, hitting neighbourhood policing and leading to warnings from the independent policing inspectorate and from Chief Constables about the future of the police.