Labour will halt Home Office plans to axe a further 1,100 police officer jobs next year and set up a new national refuge fund to help victims of domestic violence, the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper is to announce in her Labour party conference speech.
Cooper is to tell delegates that the funding for the extra police officers and to begin to reverse a 31% cut in funding for women’s refuges will come from £50m saved from scrapping the next set of police and crime commissioner elections. A further £17m will also be raised from increasing charges for gun licenses and £9m found by levying increased fees for compulsory driver retraining courses.
The extra cash for policing and to support the victims of domestic violence is the product of Labour’s “zero-based review” which has identified cuts, savings and revenue-raising measures to protect the frontline and help meet the financial constraints on policing budgets.
Police forces across England and Wales are already planning to cut 1,100 officers’ jobs in the next financial year of 2015/2016 as a result of the 27% cuts in Whitehall grants to the police made since the government came to power in 2010. A total of £41m would be needed to prevent the loss of the officers’ jobs through natural wastage and recruitment freezes.
More than 16,000 police jobs have already been lost in the last four years. Cooper says that on top of the funds released by abolishing the police commissioners the government would support forces in finding additional savings, including through mandatory national procurement, enhanced collaboration and by bearing down on overtime.
Cooper is to tell the Labour conference that every part of the country has seen the closure of refuges and services for women who are the victims of domestic violence. A 31% cut in funding for refuges and specialist advice has led to the closure of 32 specialist refuges since 2010 accounting for one in six in the country. A further eight refuges are under imminent threat of closure.
“Theresa May’s failure to act means victims are being left with no support and being abandoned,” said Cooper.
“Refuges provide vital support for women and children. Local specialist services that have a track record of successfully helping women and children need our support and that’s what we will do.”
