On Tuesday, I spoke in the debate on the police grant recently announced by the Tories. you can watch a clip of my speech in the video below.

Merseyside Police have seen their funding slashed by £90m since 2010, first under the Tory/Lib Dem coalition Government and now further under this Government. As a result, Merseyside Police have lost almost a quarter of their police officers and 43% of PCSOs. This is against the back drop of rising crime, which has increased by a huge 162.5% on Merseyside in the last five years with violent crime up by 26% in the last year alone.

Last week, I joined Police and Crime Commissioner Jane Kennedy, local Labour Councillor Gary See and Labour members to campaign in Halewood against these hugely damaging cuts.

The Tories now claim to be giving our police the extra funding they urgently need to deal with this rise in crime by offering an extra £8.4m funding grant to Merseyside Police, but the money they’re offering will be entirely consumed by the police pensions black hole that was created by this Government in the first place. It goes no where near far enough to help our police tackle the surge in crime over the last few years and improve public safety on our streets.

Instead, this Tory Government is asking council tax payers to foot the bill for their cuts in police budgets by paying higher precepts on their council tax to fill the gaps. With many of my constituents already struggling to make ends meet, this simply isn’t fair way to fund local policing. Giving with one hand and taking away with the other is what we’ve come to expect from this Government. Our police forces and public deserve better. Only a Labour Government will provide this.