Theresa May – What is she good for?
Theresa May’s Record as Home Secretary Before Theresa May became Home Secretary in 2010 there had been five others in six years. That she lasted 6 years goes to show that she is a survivor. What has sunk others was a stepping stone for her to the top job. The media was broadly supportive, and the general public seemed to think that she did well, or well enough. Police numbers and Theresa May When Home Secretary she cut police numbers by 20,000. She was vilified by the Police Federation. She said that they were “crying wolf” over the cuts. However, while she cut the police numbers crime fell. Obviously, TM was right. Except, the crime reduction was in line with a drop in recorded crime internationally. Also, the spread of CCTV and more secure vehicles would have helped. The recent meteoric rise in knife crime has not persuaded her that she was wrong to push the cuts through. Only within the last couple of weeks she said There was “no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers”, and. “What matters is how we ensure that police are responding to these criminal acts when they take place, that people are brought to justice.” This obviously true (as someone said cutting the number of police on the street would have no effect on financial fraud), but it does have a direct impact on street crime. The present Home Secretary disagreed with her, he said that the police must be given the resources to tackle violence. It is not just the bobbies on the beat that have been sacked. Out of about 7,000 armed officers in 2010 almost 1,500 had gone by 2016. As most of the remaining armed officers are in metropolitan areas there were real fears that those of us outside of London would have no protection in case of terrorism. She promised to employ another 1,500 in 2015, so that is alright then. It would have been so much better if they had not been sacked in the first place! Talking about terrorism, what was the point of the Tpims (Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures)? No body uses them. That should make us all feel safe in our beds. Also, she had a huge row with Michael Gove when he was Education Secretary. He wanted the “drain the swamp” of Islamic extremists, her approach was more conciliatory (which I agreed with). Later she reneged on that position saying that there had been “too much tolerance of extremism”. So, she was saying that she was wrong and Gove was right!! Immigration and Theresa May Theresa May’s approach to immigration and refugees was to talk tough and when the going got tough to hide. One of her Immigration Acts was supposed to “create a hostile environment” for illegal migrants. It included landlords checking on tenants’ status, among other things. Remember the Go Home vans touring “immigrant” areas? The whole expensive, repugnant exercise resulted in just 11 people leaving the country. As for dodging the brickbats. When the immigration figures came out and the government’s targets were missed, did she front up? Of course not, she sent poor James Brokenshire to face the press and Commons. When she failed to tackle rising immigration effectively it was not her fault, she blamed the rest of the government. When they wanted her to remove the overseas students from the target I (a classic Thatcher tactic to make employment figures look better) Theresa May refused! On the other hand she did keep deporting people who did not earn enough, which split up an estimated 33,000 families. She also refused to limit the time anyone was held in detention centres. Crime and May There was a time when Theresa May could be seen as a “liberal” remember her speech at the Conservative Party’s conference warning them about becoming the “nasty party”? That was obviously a blip. Referring to Ken Clarke when he was Justice Secretary she said “I lock them up, He lets them out.” She pushed through elected police and crime commissioners. That worked so well, catching the imagination of the whole nation. Can you remember who your commissioner is, and di you vote in the election? Oh yes, the last thing that she did as Home Secretary was to ensure that any inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave would not take place for years and years. Somebody has to protect Thatcher’s memory, too many skeletons in that cupboard, obviously. Conclusion But to answer my question in the title, what is she good for? Absolutely nothing (to quote Frankie)….. Next time I plan to talk about Theresa and the European debacle. As a taster here is CNN’s report of her record defeat on Brexit. Poor old Theresa things go from bad to worse…
Has Police Funding Fallen since 2010/2011?
Police Funding has fallen since 2010/2011. It is heartening that Nigel Evans, the local MP, has just realised that the police need more funding. It is a shame that he has been voting for reductions since 2010, and yet does not accept that police funding has fallen. In fact, the funding from central government fell by 30% during the period 2010/2011to 2017/2018. By increasing funding from local sources (i.e. Cuncil Tax) the average overall fall in funding has been 19%. However, the central funding is going to increase this year, isn’t it? After all austerity is dead. (Isn’t it?) Well, There was an announcement that police funding was to increase by £460m in 2018/2019. (The whole police budget is about £12.3b so it is hardly an earth shattering increase in police funding). But even with this increase the central grant is going to be the same as 2017. As inflation is running at 2% that means a real terms cut. £280m is going to be raised by allowing the police to raise the amount they can raise through the council tax. £50m is being spent on antiterrorism and the other £130m has been set aside for special grants to meet unexpected costs for events such as terrorist incidents, and for improving the technology used by police forces. In summary, the Tories have cut the funding from central government by 30% in 8 years. Even when austerity is dead and police funding is going to increase it is not being increased from central government coffers. Most of the small increase will be from council taxes. And the rest is made up of money for counterterrorism. So, valuable money to fight terrorists but not for more bobbies on the beat. Nigel and his Tory mates are trying to distance themselves from the result of their own policies and beliefs. They are either in denial that they have reduced police funding, or they are just cynical and think that we are all fools. For the record, police funding increased by 31% between 2000/01 and 2010/2011….
Phil’s British Heart Foundation Donation – you know it makes sense
