Home Secretary Suella Braverman: Our policing plan to make Yorkshire safer

In 2019, we promised 20,000 extra police officers. And now, we’ve recruited every single one, meaning we now have around 150,00 police officers - the most we’ve ever had.

And across Yorkshire, this means more police officers on the ground, with local officer numbers boosted by a total of 2,109 across the county’s four forces.

These new recruits will keep the streets of our villages, towns and cities safe by clamping down on anti-social behaviour, violence, burglaries and rape and sexual offences.

Not only do we have a record number of officers, but we’ve also been making our police forces more representative of our communities. Across the 43 police forces in England and Wales there are now more than 50,000 female officers – more than at any time in history. But being tough on crime doesn’t stop with recruiting more bobbies on the beat.

We’ve introduced the Beating Crime Plan, to deliver the change that Britain needs, with less crime, fewer victims, and a safer country.

And our Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act supports our new recruits to reduce serious violence, including knife crime and domestic abuse, as well as giving courts the power to make sure the very worst criminals are thrown behind bars for the longest possible time.

Our plans are working, and I’m proud of our record. We have cut crime by 50 per cent since 2010, excluding fraud and computer misuse which we started recording in 2016.

Our fantastic Conservative Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) like Zoe Metcalfe in North Yorkshire and Jonathan Evison in Humberside, have pulled out all the stops to cut crime across the board. Meanwhile, in Labour-run PCC areas, residents are almost twice as likely to be victims of robbery and 44 per cent more likely to be victims of knife crime.

This should come as no surprise as Labour’s record on crime is pitiful. They have voted against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, they have campaigned to stop the deportation of violent foreign offenders, and knife crime is skyrocketing in Labour-run London.

Of course, the role of all PCCs is vital in ensuring all the priorities of people across Yorkshire are met.

It is no use having these fantastic extra police officers available to help tackle crime, if they are not used correctly.

It is therefore incumbent on our PCCs to work with chief constables and senior officers across police forces in Yorkshire to ensure these new recruits are deployed correctly to meet the needs of each region.

Essentially, it is why PCCs are in post – to make sure their force’s priorities match those of families living and working across Yorkshire.

With thousands more police on the streets in Yorkshire and across the entire country, our vital police forces have the resources they need to keep us all safe. Because only the Conservative Party can be trusted to be tough on crime, and tough on criminals.

- Suella Braverman is Home Secretary.