Sunak pledges to put 8,000 more bobbies on the beat

Rishi Sunak has pledged to recruit an extra 8,000 bobbies on the beat to tackle car thefts, burglaries and anti-social behaviour.

The officers will be specifically dedicated to neighbourhood policing to ensure that people feel safe in their areas.

The £650 million plan will be included in the Tory manifesto, which is being published on Monday, and would be funded by a 25 per cent increase on all visas for foreign workers and visitors and a 30 per cent increase in the health surcharge for overseas students.

It would take the total number of police officers in the UK to their highest level at nearly 180,000 – eclipsing the previous peak of 172,000 in 2010, the last year of the Labour government.

It comes after an extra 20,000 police officers were recruited in England and Wales in the three years to last April.

Mr Sunak said: “People deserve to feel safe in their neighbourhood. More bobbies on the beat and increased powers will give police forces the tools they need to drive down neighbourhood crime even further.

“Labour has no plan and no idea how to fund more police officers. Our clear plan will create a more secure future for neighbourhoods up and down the country.”

The Tories have been criticised for a rise in crime recorded by police, including near-record levels of knife offences.

Labour has said it plans to put an extra 13,000 police and police community support officers (PCSOs) on the streets, but Mr Sunak will claim the plan for 8,000 fully warranted officers is better than that.

Labour is proposing 3,000 extra officers, 4,000 PCSOs – who do not have powers of arrest – 3,000 special constables and 3,000 officers ring-fenced from the previous 20,000 increase.

It comes ahead of a second seven-way TV debate involving representatives from all the parties on Thursday, and Sky’s leader interviews with Mr Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday.

Last Friday, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, used the first seven-way debate to claim crime was “so bad that people generally don’t even bother to report it”.

The extra officers would be recruited over the next Parliament, reaching 8,000 in 2027-28, equivalent to an additional bobby on the beat for every ward in England and Wales.

The funding will come with conditions that the extra officers cannot be removed from neighbourhood duties unless there are exceptional reasons. To ensure a genuine increase, forces will be barred from using them to replace current bobbies on the beat.

Visa fees, excluding the health surcharge to fund the NHS, have risen from £184 million in 2003, when the Blair government introduced them, to £2.2 billion in 2022. They have been increased since then, with the health surcharge increasing 66 per cent last year.

The 25 per cent increase will mean visitor fees will increase from £115 to £144, and skilled workers will go up from £719 to £899, while the surcharge for students will jump from £750 to £1035.

The Tory manifesto will also pledge to roll out hotspot policing – where officers focus on known problem areas for crime and anti-social behaviour – across England and Wales.

The security and safety British people deserve

Every neighbourhood needs a bobby on the beat. It is essential for cutting crime, boosting community cohesion and improving trust between locals and the police, writes James Cleverly.

This is what people expect from their government, and rightly so. We get it. We are the only ones with a clear plan to continue to deliver this.

We made good on our pledge for 20,000 more police officers since 2019, meaning there are now more police officers than ever before. And it has made a massive difference, with overall crime down by 54 per cent since 2010.

Coupled with record numbers of coppers, we have pioneered new policing methods like our hotspot policing programme which means we can target resources at tackling specific crimes like violent assaults and anti-social behaviour.

This plan is working, with anti-social behaviour down by up to half in some places.

Hotspot policing programme

But we will not stop there in our fight against the common criminal. We will deliver 8,000 more police officers, one extra for every ward in England and Wales.

We will add conditions to this extra funding too, ensuring these officers will be mainlined into the coalface of neighbourhood policing.

We will roll out the hotspot policing programme, which has been so effective at stamping out anti-social behaviour, across England and Wales.

The alternative could not be clearer. Labour is putting a lot of effort into trying to convince people they are strong on crime, but how can they be when they have no plan?

‘Soft on crime’

We all know Labour are soft on crime. Wherever they are in power, crime is higher. Starmer is trying to take the British people for fools, but we can see through his patronising platitudes and weasel words. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Only 3,000 of their alleged 13,000 are actually new full-time, fully warranted officers. The rest are either officers this Conservative government has already recruited, community officers who do not have the power to arrest or volunteer Special Constables, who generously volunteer and don’t work full time.

On the other hand, we have a strong track record of delivery in getting bobbies on the beat. We had a clear plan in 2019 to get 20,000 extra police officers which we delivered a year early, and we have a clear plan now. We are the only ones that can be trusted with this important task.

‘No place in a Conservative Britain’

Anti-social behaviour, burglaries and violent crime can wreak havoc on an otherwise peaceful neighbourhood. We will make it clear that these criminals have no place in a Conservative Britain. Our new officers will be 8,000 more foot soldiers in our war on these crimes.

I want these new police officers to make a noticeable difference. To do so, these officers will need new tools and powers to get on with the job of tackling ever-evolving crime. Ranging from facial recognition technology to greater powers to seize knives and stolen goods, we will have more police with more power to take on criminals.

Neighbourhood crimes can blight a local area and make life a misery for people going about their daily lives.

Our plan will give local areas the security and safety British people deserve. Without one, we’d let the not-so petty criminals get away scot free.