Fed Chair: I’d like to ask the Home Secretary about his plans for police funding

DON’T forget about police funding – that’s the message from South Yorkshire Police Federation as the Government readies itself for a change in leadership.

Brexit and the recent resignation of Theresa May has seen some important issues pushed onto the backburner but Steve Kent, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman hopes that won’t include talks about police budgets.

“If I could ask the Home Secretary [Sajid Javid] a question it would be what are his plans for the increase in funding for police?” he said.

“We’ve seen recent budgets for knife crime etc, but what we want to see, what we want to ask the Home Secretary is, is he going to continue to press for more central funding for policing in general?”

The Home Office recently announced a £100m war chest for forces to combat knife crime specifically although that will mostly be spent on officer overtime.

“Unfortunately, whilst the overtime is welcome in terms of knife crime, it’s just a plaster over a big cut.

“We need the police forces to get back up to the size that they were before the cuts started. So, I’d be asking him if that’s still on his agenda,” Steve said.