Not the time to cut police numbers in London

Cllr Kosru Uddin, the Tower Hamlets Labour Group Spokesperson for A Safer Borough has today called on the Conservative-led government and Mayor Boris Johnson to urgently rethink the scale of its cuts to police officers and police budgets after the disturbances across the city this week.

In Tower Hamlets, a small number of local businesses were vandalised by groups of youths who gathered in parts of the Borough, but due to the diligence of the police and local residents, disturbances were not on the same scale of those witnessed in other parts of London.

A clean up operation, initiated by the council and local residents has helped the affected areas return to business as normal but properties and businesses have been left damaged.

Across the Capital 16,000 police on the streets made a big difference in restoring calm and reassuring communities like those in Tower Hamlets. But the Metropolitan Police has lost 900 officers in the last year alone and the Mayor of London’s plans mean a further 1,800 officers are expected to go in total over the next few years.

Cllr Uddin said:

‘In Tower Hamlets, our communities and their residents, along with the police were united in preventing the violent scenes witnessed by other London Borough’s.  It is also clear that the extra police on the street made a real difference in restoring calm.

Labour councillors’ alternative budget would have put an extra 17 police officers onto the streets in Tower Hamlets – one in every ward – but this was rejected by Mayor Rahman.

People in Tower Hamlets and across the country need reassurance that the police have the resources and officers they need to keep the streets safe and maintain law and order. Now is not the time for 20 per cent budget cuts that make it harder not easier for the police to do their jobs’