Rowley: Police will choose which crimes to investigate without more funding

Telegraph

3 days ago

Britain's most senior police chiefs have warned Sir Keir Starmer that they will have to 'deprioritise' some crimes if the Treasury pushes ahead with spending cuts.
Sir Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan Police, and other senior officers, have written to the Prime Minister warning that they will face 'stark choices' about which crimes they investigate if Rachel Reeves fails to plug shortfalls in police budgets.
They feared negotiations between the Home Office and the Treasury were going 'poorly' and warned that without additional investment, they faced 'retrenchment' similar to that faced by forces under the Tory years of austerity.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is one of several ministers who have yet to reach agreement with the Chancellor in their negotiations over the spending review, which is due to be announced next week.
One government source said the Home Office was 'at least two billion pounds' away from what it needed.
Ms Cooper confirmed that she was seeking more funding for the police to help them with the impact of the Government's decision to release thousands of serious criminals early to prevent prisons from becoming overwhelmed.
'Clearly, we will always want more investment around policing and meeting the challenges they face,' she told the home affairs select committee on Tuesday.
Angela Rayner, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, and Ed Miliband, the Energy and Net Zero Secretary, are also said to be seeking more money.
All three departments are central to delivering on key Labour manifesto commitments of halving knife crime and violence against women and girls, building 1.5 million new homes by the end of the parliament and decarbonising the electricity network by 2030.
Sir Mark and five other police chiefs have already warned that Sir Keir will be unable to deliver his flagship pledges to cut crime without serious investment in the spending review, to be released on Wednesday next week
On Friday Sir Mark, Gavin Stephens, the head of the National Police Chiefs' Council, and Graeme Biggar, the head of the National Crime Agency (NCA), wrote a further letter directly to the Prime Minister, expressing their concerns over the threat of spending cuts.
'We understand that the Treasury [is] seeking to finalise departmental budget allocations this week and that the negotiations between the Home Office and the Treasury are going poorly,' they wrote.
'We are deeply concerned that the settlement for policing and the [NCA], without additional investment, risks a retrenchment to what we saw under austerity. This would have far-reaching consequences.
'Policing and the NCA have seen a sustained period where income has not kept pace with demand. Often, this has been masked by attempts to defer costs in the hope of more income in future, but that now leaves policing with very limited room for manoeuvre.
'A settlement that fails to address our inflation and pay pressures flat would entail stark choices about which crimes we no longer prioritise. The policing and NCA workforce would also shrink each year.'
The Home Office is one of the departments facing the biggest cuts in the spending review, which will set out the Government's next three years of spending plans for 2026-29, when the next general election is expected to be held.
The Home Office announced a £1.1 billion increase in police funding for 2025-26 to take total funding to £19.6 billion in England and Wales, although forces said this was not enough to prevent them having to make cuts to officer numbers.
Sir Mark said the Met would lose 1,700 officers and staff because of a £260 million deficit in the force's finances.
Police chiefs warned that there remained a £1.3 billion funding gap nationally over the next two years.