Cuts will hit crime rate claim Labour

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the calculation had been made using the same research employed by the Liberal Democrats before the election when they were campaigning for more bobbies on the beat.

Before the election, Nick Clegg said recruiting 10,000 more police officers would solve “an extra 82,265 crimes”.

But with force budgets under severe strain, the Association of Chief Police Officers has warned there are likely to be 12,000 fewer officers on the beat, prompting Ms Cooper to claim this will mean 98,718 fewer crimes will be solved each year.

The claim will be fiercely denied by Ministers, who say increases in officer numbers in recent years have not had the effect they should because they spend too much time off the streets dealing with bureaucracy.

The Government says better results can be achieved by improving efficiency.

But Ms Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, said: “This is yet another volte face from Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

“Before the election they wanted 3,000 more officers and claimed this meant more crimes would be solved. Now they support cutting over 12,000 police officers and say there is no link between the number of police officers and the level of crime.

“The Liberal Democrats have never been a Party of law and order. They are now part of a Tory led Government which is turning its back on the fight against crime and letting communities across the country down.”