I WRITE concerning the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in November.

I believe policing is a public service and should be by consent and not for profit. Labour is determined to stand up for local communities in these elections. The Government is making the wrong choices on crime, cutting 107 posts in Cambridgeshire and taking frontline police off the streets, weakening powers to deal with anti-social behaviour, and opening the door to the privatisation of core services.

I will fight the impact of these reckless changes, working within local communities to bring about the change people want. On June 28, the police authority is due to discuss plans to privatise core services. I and others will be lobbying the meeting to ask that the privatisation of the police service is not adopted as policy by the current members of the police authority. They should scrap any plans and stop paying people to draw up these plans and await the outcome of the forthcoming election when the public will have their say. To stitch up contracts before these elections would be a disgraceful ‘fit up’.

A Labour police and crime commissioner will stand up for communities against the Government’s unprecedented attack on the police and community safety. Labour’s work with communities and the police helped cut crime and antisocial behaviour, with crime falling by 43 per cent when we were in Government. Instead, David Cameron and Theresa May are cutting the police by 20 per cent with the loss of over 16,000 police officers and making it harder for the police to use DNA, CCTV and forensic evidence. At the same time we are seeing worrying rises in personal crime.

I still believe that the Government should call off these November elections and spend the extra money involved on over 3,000 new police constables.

As they seem hell bent to go ahead with them, I will campaign hard against these Government cuts, putting neighbourhood policing first with Bobbies on the beat and a promise not to privatise the neighbourhood patrol or leave it only to PCSOs. If elected I shall reverse any privatisation plans.

Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime is still Labour’s approach because it works; it worked for our communities before and could again if supported by the Government.

Our police and crime commissioner candidates will stand up for this approach and for the local communities whose safety is being put at risk by this Government.”

ED MURPHY

Labour and Co-operative Party

PCC Candidate