Crime and policing are one of the top issues in this election year, with 19% of voters currently ranking it as the most important issue facing the country, according to YouGov¹. Labour has listened; it will be a top priority if voters elect a Labour government later this year.

Ben Cavanagh, a spokesperson for North West Essex CLP, said “Halving violent crime and restoring faith in the police and criminal justice system is one of Labour’s five missions for government”. Ben pledged that “Under a Labour government, we will restore neighbourhood policing by hiring 13,000 new PCSOs and neighbourhood police, restoring a visible police presence in towns like Dunmow, Stansted and Saffron Walden”.

In January Uttlesford Councillors wrote a letter to Essex Chief Constable, Ben-Julian Harrington and the incumbent Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst, to complain that not enough was being done to combat drug dealing in Uttlesford.

Ben said that “Instead of criticising the police, councillors should be blaming this Conservative government for 14 years of underinvestment in the police and criminal justice system”. Ben noted that the difficulties faced by Dunmow residents were part of a wider story of police cuts and rising violent crime, a story that will only change when there is a new government in Westminster.

Between 2010 and 2019 funding for the police in England was slashed by £3.5 billion², leading to 20,000 police officers being cut. Since 2019 the government has belatedly sought to increase funding and reverse the fall in police numbers, and only recently have numbers returned to where they were under the last Labour government³.

Even with recent increases, there will still be fewer Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) than under Labour and fewer police operating in neighbourhood teams, leaving residents without officers dedicated to tackling criminal activities which have the most impact on our towns and villages, such as drug-dealing and antisocial behaviour. As a result of these cuts, the percentage of recorded crimes which lead to a criminal charge has fallen from 16.3% to 5.5% under the Tories, and public confidence in the police has fallen below 50%⁴.

Ben challenged Conservative MPs like Kemi Badenoch to, “take responsibility for what they have done to neighbourhood policing in this country, rather than allowing Essex police to take the flak”.