Government hits manifesto target of recruiting 20,000 police officers in England and Wales
The pledge was made as part of the Conservatives' 2019 manifesto - but critics have pointed to cuts to police numbers since the 2010 general election.
Wednesday 26 April 2023 11:21, UK
The government has hit its manifesto pledge to recruit 20,000 police officers, official figures show.
Home Office statistics published this morning show the total number of police officers recruited since the last election is 20,951 - bringing the total number to 149,572 in England and Wales.
The pledge was made in 2019 ahead of the 2010 general election, but critics have pointed to cuts to police numbers since then and said the government in fact missed the deadline to hit the target, which was set for March this year.
Around 20,000 officers were lost as a result of budget cuts during the period of austerity that started in 2010.
However, the government claims there are now "record numbers" of officers with an extra 3,500 than existed then, when there were 146,030 officers in post as at 31 March 2010.
Ministers also say there are now 53,000 female officers (35.5%) and more than 12,000 (8.3%) from an ethnic minority background - also a record high.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the figures, saying they showed the government had "delivered" on its "promise", while Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the new recruits were "more representative of the communities they serve".
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But the Liberal Democrats said Ms Braverman's "boasts will ring hollow for communities that have seen community policing decimated under this government".
The party said some police forces were taking as long as 18 hours to respond to priority calls including burglaries, with the average response time standing at five hours.
The party's home affairs spokesperson, Alistair Carmichael, said: "Crime victims are waiting hours for police to turn up while the vast majority of burglaries go unsolved.
"The Conservatives have taken thousands of community support officers off the streets and bogged down local forces in unnecessary tasks. They can't even get the basics right on crime."
Yvette Cooper Labour's shadow home secretary accused the government of "taking the country for fools".
"They cut 20,000 police officers from our streets," she said.
"Now they expect the public to be grateful for a police replacement programme that still leaves 6,000 fewer police out on the beat and 9,000 fewer officers in real terms compared to the last Labour government as the population has grown.
"With more than 90% of crimes going unsolved, victims dropping out in their millions, and recorded knife crime and sexual violence rising, the Conservatives have no grip on law and order."
While the wider national target has been met, some individual police forces fell short, including the Metropolitan Police.
Speaking to MPs this morning, Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the force missed its target by around 1,000 officers after saying it would not be "possible or wise" to recruit such numbers quickly.
Pressed on why the target had not been met, Sir Mark told the Commons Home Affairs Committee: "There are a range of factors in this.
"We have recruited over the last three years more than 9,000 officers, which is the most, I think, ever in such a short period.
"The reputation of the organisation at the moment doesn't help recruiting, but also the employment market and the pay situation is really challenging."
It has also emerged that the government only reached its target in recent weeks, after the figures showed that the total number of new officers provisionally stood at 18,544 at the end of February - 1,500 shy of the target.
The sharp jump in headcount came in the weeks leading up to the deadline on 31 March, which the Home Office said represented the "largest month-on-month increase" since the recruitment programme began.
The new police numbers come before Ms Braverman gives a speech later at the Public Safety Foundation in which she will urge police to stop "pandering to politically correct preoccupations" and focus on "criminal justice, not social justice".
Ms Braverman told Sky News "while our police officers are brave and excellent on the whole... I think there has been a tendency for the public to grow weary of some of the timewasting behaviour that police have been engaged in".
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Illegal immigration
This afternoon MPs will debate and vote on the government's controversial Illegal Migration Bill, which would prevent anyone arriving in the UK illegally from claiming asylum. Instead, they would be detained and removed, either to Rwanda or another "safe country".
Charities and human rights organisations have argued the bill is unworkable and could put the UK in breach of international law.
Earlier this week the Equality and Human Rights Commission said it was "seriously concerned" the bill could also expose people to "serious harm".
Ms Braverman defended the bill, telling Sky News: "People who are coming here illegally are breaking our laws. They are criminals and they don't have a right to be here."
Asked about the situation in Sudan and what the government's response would be if people started arriving on small boats, she said: "There is no good reason for anybody to get into a small boat to cross the Channel in search of a new life in the United Kingdom."
Asked if refugees will be able to seek asylum in the UK, the home secretary said the correct way to request help is via the UN Refugee Agency.