Labour councillors send open letter to Nick Clegg over police funding cuts

They are among 17 local government politicians from their party who have sent an open letter to the Lib Dem leader claiming he and his party have “broken promises” over Yorkshire policing levels.

The Labour leaders for City of York Council, Selby District Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and North Yorkshire County Council are among the signatories.

North Yorkshire Police last week announced it was to shed about 200 officers from all ranks, as well as about 350 staff.

Humberside, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire Police are also expected to shed jobs. The Labour councillors claim the Liberal Democrats called for 200 extra officers on Yorkshire’s streets before the General Election, to be funded by scrapping ID cards.

Coun James Alexander, head of York’s Labour city council group, said: “We have just seen the Lib Dems renege on their tuition fees pledge and now they are reneging on their pre-election police pledge.” He added he had instigated the letter.

“By supporting reductions in police numbers, they are letting current victims of crime down as much as they are letting down future victims from consequential increases in crime.

“Nick Clegg’s Yorkshire and Humber manifesto called for people to reject ‘low politics and broken promises’. We are doing just that and calling on him, as a Yorkshire MP, to live up to his promise.”

Coun Steve Shaw-Wright, Selby District Council’s Labour group leader, said: “The police service in Selby has made a substantive reduction in crime and the fear of crime, to some extent facilitated by the introduction of PCSOs patrolling residential areas and getting to know people in the old-fashioned way. I have no doubt crime and the fear of crime will rise if the cuts go ahead.”

Brian Marshall, Laurie Cross and Eric Broadbent, the Labour leaders on North Yorkshire County Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Scarborough Borough Council respectively, have also signed the letter.