Police officer fall mapped as bungling top Tory mocked for whining about own record
A top Tory has been left red-faced after accidentally attacking his own record in Government.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp went on the attack after official data showed a decline in police officer numbers of 1,316 between March 2024 and March 2025. However closer analysis shows that 1,232 of these posts were lost while he was policing minister last year.
After a sharp drop last Spring - when around 400 officers were lost a week - numbers were more stable from the summer. In a video shared on social media, Mr Philp branded the fall "shocking" and said: "Under Labour numbers have fallen by 1,300 already."
Labour Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said: 'Chris Philp has managed to attack his own record in Government, and advertised cuts to policing that he presided over. He was Policing Minister in a Government which cut PCSOs in half and slashed the number of Special Constables by two-thirds. Some humility would not go amiss.
She said he was lucky he made the bungled attack after Kemi Badenoch reshuffled her top team. Dame Diana went on: 'This Labour Government is putting bobbies back on the beat, with a £200m cash injection to fund 3000 more officers and PCSOs this year alone as part of our Plan for Change.'
Management information collected by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), officer numbers fell by 1,232 between March 2024 and June 2024 and by 84 between July 2024 and March 2025.
In April Keir Starmer announced a 'summer crime blitz' where police will patrol town centres targeting shoplifters, pickpockets, phone thieves and anyone who assaults a shop worker. The government's 'Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee' aims to put 13,000 more officers into neighbourhood roles by 2029, an increase of more than 50%.
The PM also said he wanted 3,000 new neighbourhood officers - including 2,500 police officers and nearly 400 police community support officers (PCSOs) - in post by the start of next year. The proposals aim to ensure that every community has its own named, contactable officers, dedicated teams on the beat, and guaranteed police patrols in town centres and other hotspot areas during peak times.
It followed a Home Office announcement in January of an extra £100 million for neighbourhood policing in England and Wales. Excluding British Transport Police, there were 146,454 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in England and Wales as of March 31, 2025. While that is less than a 1% fall from the previous year, it represents 1,307 fewer FTE officers.
At the same time, PCSO numbers have dropped by 257 (3%), from 7,570 in 2024 to 7,313 FTE roles. The Met Police has seen by far the biggest drop in officer numbers, losing the equivalent of 1,020 FTE police officers. However, the Met did gain 78 additional PCSOs.
South Wales Police lost the equivalent of 23 FTE officers and 77 PCSOs. Greater Manchester Police saw a reduction of 30 FTE police officers and 40 PCSOs, and Hertfordshire Constabulary saw numbers drop by 54 officers and 14 PCSOs.
But not every force has seen a reduction. Bedfordshire Police gained 24 FTE officers and 10 PCSOs. North Wales Police recruited 17 extra police and 12 community support officers, and while West Yorkshire Police lost 35 PCSOs, the force gained 64 FTE police officers.
Compared to the size of the population each force serves, the Met remains the best-resourced police force in the country. For every 10,000 people living in London, there are the equivalent of 39 police and community support officers.
The Met is followed by Merseyside Police (30 officers per 10,000 people), Greater Manchester Police (29), and South Wales Police (29). Lincolnshire Police has the lowest ratio of officers to people, with 16 police and PCSOs for every 10,000 of the population.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We are determined to rebuild neighbourhood policing, and as part of our Plan for Change, will put an extra 3,000 police and Community Support Officers on the beat by Spring next year, backed by a £1.2 billion cash investment.
'Ahead of that, forces across the country are rolling out named, contactable officers and high street patrols at peak times.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Shadow home secretary says the immigration status of suspects MUST be made public in court to stop misinformation spreading online
The immigration status of suspects should be made public to end harmful misinformation, the Shadow Home Secretary has said. Courts and prosecutors should reveal how a defendant entered Britain to stop lies spreading online, according to Chris Philp. His intervention comes amid heated protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which houses migrants, and the false claim that the Southport killer was an asylum seeker, which sparked race riots last summer. Mr Philp said: 'The Home Office and the Crown Prosecution Service should not be refusing to release details on the immigration status of dangerous perpetrators – the public deserve to know the truth and they need to be protected from foreign criminals.' Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, added: 'The courts should be required by law to publish, in real time, the nationality and immigration status of those who come before them. 'Speculation and distortion would stop, preventing sensitive situations from getting out of control.' The Ministry of Justice has now confirmed the potential release of further information about foreign national offenders (FNOs) will be considered as part of a review. Online misinformation about the Southport triple-murderer Axel Rudakubana, 18, being a Muslim asylum seeker ignited nationwide rioting last summer. It was later revealed that Rudakubana was born in Cardiff to Christian parents who migrated to the UK from Rwanda. An MoJ spokesman said: 'The Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, has asked civil servants to review what can be published on FNOs to increase transparency on this important issue.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'It is our long-standing policy not to comment on individual cases. FNOs who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes will face the full force of the law, including deportation.' Earlier this month, a Mail on Sunday investigation revealed that more than 300 asylum seekers living at 70 hotels had been charged with 708 criminal offences, as serious as rape, over the past three years. While the nationality of the accused is sometimes shown in court documents when they ask for an interpreter, the immigration status is not disclosed. Violent protests broke out at The Bell Hotel this month after an Ethiopian asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault, which he denies.
Times
3 hours ago
- Times
How to make Great British Railways a success
Before Labour ministers choose slick slogans for their new state-run trains they should recall Henry Ford's words: 'Nothing happens until somebody sells something.' Contrary to what some in the rail sector and Whitehall seem to think, rail services cannot exist without their passengers — what they want and what they are prepared to pay. A herculean effort to win more customers from the airlines and road users is essential. Britain's railways are at a watershed. Under privatisation, passenger journeys almost doubled. By the 2010s, private franchises were running three times as many trains between London and Manchester as the old British Rail (BR) had in the early 1990s. During the two decades between privatisation and the pandemic, passenger journeys increased by 107 per cent and services by 32 per cent. Passenger satisfaction in Britain was higher than for any other major European railway. Revenue increased by 145 per cent in real terms, compared with only a 16 per cent rise in operating costs, and £14 billion of private investment went into improving the train fleet. • Ministers heading for union clash in bid for hi-tech rail travel Privatisation introduced innovations in marketing, ticketing and operational efficiency. The volume of rail travel in Britain rose to a level not seen since the 1930s, on a network half the size and with a very good safety record. The pandemic was devastating for rail. It wasn't just that train travel collapsed during the lockdowns, requiring subsidies of £20.5 billion in 2023-24 prices) to cover losses. People's travel and working behaviour changed, probably for ever. Traditional flows of revenue from business travel, first class and five-day commuter season tickets, particularly in London and the southeast, have fallen away. In the year to March only 13 per cent of journeys were made using season tickets, compared with 34 per cent before the pandemic. Even though passenger numbers are close to 100 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, revenue is still down by £1.4 billion, at 89.1 per cent. Passengers are paying less to travel outside the old peaks. The taxpayer continues to cover an unacceptably high annual subsidy of £12 billion for a sector that only delivers 2 per cent of all journeys taken by the public. Consequently, ministers must now prioritise growth as they prepare to introduce the bill to create the state-owned Great British Railways (GBR), almost 80 years after Clement Attlee first nationalised rail. Without a ruthless focus on what passengers want alongside a demand-led model, a spiral of decline — higher subsidy and fares — could easily take root. GBR risks being a solution in search of a problem and morphing into the ghost of BR unless ministers develop a viable long-term vision. New research from the Centre for Policy Studies highlights four key areas which, if supported, would deliver more passengers, more income and better services for passengers. • Great British Railways 'won't be run by civil servants' First, ministers should support a mixed model across the intercity high-speed network so GBR trains faces competition from non-subsidised 'open access' operators. For 25 years this model has successfully delivered passenger growth and satisfaction on the East Coast Main Line between London, the northeast and Scotland. It has meant better services, more routes, faster trains and cheaper tickets while also bringing more passengers to the route. This has led to new, popular rail operators entering the market, which has pushed the dominant, government-run train operator, LNER, to deliver better services for its customers. European railways that have copied this successful model have seen a 40 per cent increase in passengers and fare reductions of between 20 and 60 per cent. Second, GBR should not regulate itself, especially as the white paper proposes taking key sector powers away from the independent Office of Rail and Road. In no other regulated sector does the dominant market operator also control and deliver key elements of its own regulation, such as decisions on market access and charging. This could have huge implications for growth, open access and more rail freight. Only last week the environment secretary slammed the water companies for 'marking their own homework' and pledged to end 'operator self-monitoring'. But there is a risk that this will become the case on the railways. Third, GBR must adopt an unforgiving focus on making train travel as easy, cheap and user-friendly as possible, not least when designing a new GBR ticketing app to replace those of existing train companies. In addition to competing with popular ticketing sites it must be designed by the world's leading retail software companies rather than civil servants. GBR should deliver a 'Rail Miles' loyalty scheme, which is years overdue and could be linked with purchases made in the hospitality and retail sectors. • The Times View: Prejudice against private train operators is misguided Fourth, the vast 52,000-hectare railway estate can and must generate much more income. Commercial and residential development, renewable energy generation, light parcel freight, health hubs at stations alongside a higher-quality retail offer are all underused sources of income. We must learn from countries such as Japan, where railways earn at least one third of their revenue from non-ticket sources. Rail can and must be at the centre of Britain's industrial, employment, housing and regeneration strategies. The ghost of BR hangs over GBR. But if the passenger is put first and proven models are embraced then the future could be very different. Rail might not get another chance. Tony Lodge is a research fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies and author of Rail's Last Chance, published today by the CPS
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Tory and Lib Dem peers accused of 'cynical attacks' on workers' rights - 'get out the way'
The TUC has warned Tory and Lib Dem Peers to 'get out of the way' and 'stop trying to block' stronger employment rights for millions of workers in the House of Lords The TUC has warned Tory and Lib Dem Peers to 'get out of the way' and 'stop trying to block' stronger employment rights for millions of workers. The union body is urging the government to 'stand firm' in the face of what it calls 'cynical attacks' on the Employment Rights Bill. The landmark legislation, which is currently going through the House of Lords, was a key pillar of Labour's election campaign. Spearheaded by Deputy PM Angela Rayner, the workers' rights package will end exploitative zero hours contracts, ban bad bosses from using agency staff to replace sacked employees and give expectant parents bereavement leave if they lose a pregnancy before 24 weeks. READ MORE: New workers rights law - all changes from sick pay to parental leave and how they affect you But the TUC has warned that the Tories and Lib Dems are 'doing the bidding of bad bosses' by trying to water down the legislation in the Lords. It hit out at opposition peers voting to 'attack' teaching assistants' pay and exempt voluntary work on heritage railways from restrictions on employment of children. The Bill will return to the House of Commons in September for MPs to consider the House of Lords' proposed changes to the legislation. The two Houses will continue to vote on amendments in a process known as 'ping-pong' until a way forward is agreed. A recent TUC mega poll revealed huge support across the country – including among Conservative voters – for key policies in the Bill. More than seven in 10 (72%) of UK voters support a ban on zero hours contracts – including 63% of Tory voters, the survey found. And three quarters (73%) of voters support giving all workers protection from unfair dismissal from the first day in the job - including 62% of Conservative. The TUC said peers who are trying to water down the legislation are not just 'out of touch" but are "actively defying" voters across the country. TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: "It's time for Tory and Lib Dem Peers to get out of the way and stop trying to block stronger rights for millions of workers. They are doing the bidding of bad bosses by voting to keep workers on zero hours contracts, allowing bosses to sack workers unfairly and attacking teaching assistants' pay.' He added: "Banning zero-hours contracts and protecting workers from unfair dismissal are common-sense protections that the vast majority of the people, including Tory and Lib Dem voters, want to see become law. "These Peers are not just out of touch, they are actively defying their own voters – and the public at large. The government must stand firm in the face of cynical attacks and deliver the Employment Rights Bill in full.' A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: ' Liberal Democrats have always championed stronger rights at work, and it's disappointing that Labour chose to block (/vote against) our proposals to support carers and whistleblowers. 'Unfortunately we fear parts of Labour's rushed bill would be bad for workers in small businesses and family farms. 'They were badly let down by the Conservative Party, and Labour seems to have a blindspot when it comes to farms and small businesses too. We support the bill as a whole and have worked constructively to try and improve it.' The Tories were contacted for comment. ::: Focaldata conducted a poll of 21,270 UK adults for the TUC from Nov 30 to Jan 8.
