Hull MP petitions Parliament against Hull Police cuts

Hull North MP Diana Johnson will tonight petition the House of Commons against the cuts to police numbers in and around Hull.

This call comes on the eve of a House of Commons debates on policing budgets for the next year and after recent figures showing that Humberside police lost 157 police officers between March 2010 and September 2011.

Nationally, police numbers have fallen to the lowest for a decade at a time when personal crime, which includes theft and violence, has gone up by a startling 11 per cent - the biggest increase in a decade.

Diana Johnson MP's petition reads:

"To the House of Commons.

The Petition of residents of Hull,

Declares that the Petitioners believe that the Government has a duty to protect citizens from crime; that the significant increase in police officers over the past ten years has helped reduce crime and make people feel safer; notes that under Government proposals the police budget will be cut by 20%, that over 16,000 police officers will be lost and that for Humberside Police Force cuts will be even greater than the national average, with a 25% reduction in the police budget; further notes that Humberside Police Force is projected to have 250 fewer police officers in March 2012 than in March 2010; and declares that the Petitioners believe that this will hamper the efforts of the police to prevent crime and keep citizens safe

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to support the work of the police in ensuring that the downward trend in overall crime continues by at least maintaining 2010 levels of uniformed police officers in England and Wales.

And the Petitioners remain, etc."

Hull North MP and Shadow Crime Minister Diana Johnson said: "Nick Clegg promised 3,000 more Police nationally at the 2010 Election, in full knowledge of the deficit. After 18 months of his Government Humberside Police have 157 fewer police officers.

"With further deep cuts this year and signs that crime is on the rise, Hull people are rightly worried about police cuts. The Home Secretary's 20% cuts nationally, and 25% in Humberside, go much further than the 12% recommended by the independent inspectorate, which could be made without cutting frontline policing.

"The Government has now restored £90m of the money they were cutting from London's Metropolitan Police, but refuse to do the same for Humberside even though the cost of Olympic policing does not just fall on London.

"The Government should be battling to cut crime, but they are cutting the police instead. That's why I'll be voting against Coalition cuts to policing."