HOME SECRETARY'S ANNOUNCEMENT ON POLICE RECRUITMENT

EDM number 922 in 1998-99, proposed by Simon Hughes on 19/10/1999.

That this House regrets that the announcement on police force recruitment made by the Home Secretary to the Labour Party Conference on 30th September was deliberately made to give only partial information and therefore gave the misleading impression that total police force strength would increase over the next three years; notes that including the 'extra' 5,000 police recruits announced by the Home Secretary, there are only 16,000 new recruits to police forces planned, 1,000 fewer new recruits than there were in the last three years; notes that between March 1997 and March 1999 the total number of police officers in England and Wales fell by 1,043; believes that the Home Secretary of all people should always tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; believes that incomplete and therefore misleading statements by the Government only feed public cynicism about politicians; believes that the Home Secretary should make an urgent statement in the House to clarify his plans for police recruitment and to answer questions; and believes the Home Secretary should take the opportunity to commit the Government to a policy which will reverse the decline in the number of police officers in England and Wales.

This motion has been signed by a total of 23 MPs.