May faces calls to resign after failure to defend funding cuts

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

Home Secretary, Theresa May has been jeered and heckled by rank-and-file officers as she defended 20% funding cuts to policing and reforms to their pay and conditions.

Mrs. May also has to face calls to resign today as she was told that she had lost the trust of the police. During her address at the Police Federation conference in Bournemouth, she has strongly insisted that the recent budget cuts and reforms to police forces in England and Wales are essential. However, she was greeted by officers in the audience holding placards displaying ‘enough is enough’ as she took to the stage. Still, she has made an effort to justify the changes to pay and conditions, saying that hard-working rank and file officers should welcome them. Also the budget cuts of up to 20 percent, officers are also facing the prospect of regular fitness tests and revised entry requirements into the force, as well as easier entry for more experienced members of the force into senior roles.

Mrs. May has said at the conference: “Policing has to take its share of cuts and for the good of the country we have to see them through. And it is not a service that is being picked upon”. The home secretary has tried to convince police: “I want to help you to be able to get on to do your jobs.” And then she left the hall to boos from the officers and chants of “Resign, resign”.

Last week, more than 30,000 off-duty officers marched through the streets of London in a protest against the cuts.

Mrs. May has been told by a member of the federation’s Cheshire branch, Ken Davies that her reforms were not affordable or manageable. He has said: “You’ve taken and will take 16,000 constables away from the frontline.” He has added that the Officers will simply not be present when the next time rioters take to the streets, as they did last summer.

The Staffordshire force member, Steve Thornton has told Mrs. May his force was reducing its numbers to 1,750 by 2015, taking it back to 1970s’ levels. He has asked in this regard: “Can you explain to the people of Staffordshire why they should feel safe with you in charge?”

The Police Federation chairman, Paul McKeever had also made a speech and told the home secretary that 5,200 officers had already been lost, and that she was on the height of destroying a police service that was admired throughout the world.  He has told: “We are about to go through some fundamental change that will alter policing forever. This is a bad deal for police officers, it’s a bad deal for the service and most of all it’s a bad deal for the British public.”

Article viewed on Oye! Times at www.oyetimes.com.

Share with friends
You can publish this article on your website as long as you provide a link back to this page.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*