My Work in Parliament - Pat McFadden MP Wolverhampton South East

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

I will resist the temptation to go back over the crisis with the Minister. I thought he was doing all right until then. Instead, may I ask him to clarify a point? I read out statements made by...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

It is exactly the same point. The Government cannot expect reserves which—as was pointed out by my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham)—are there to cover...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend has made an important point about reserves. One thing is clear in any budgeting exercise: the same money cannot be spent twice.

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

It is not sustainable, which is why leading chief constables have said that forces are already stretched beyond sustainability. I turn now to how the changes might be paid for. The Budget...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My right hon. Friend has graphically set out the potential impact on a smaller police force such as Gwent. For my force in the west midlands, the commissioner and chief constable estimate that...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

Those are shocking numbers, both financially and in the potential impact on police numbers. As I said, it is simply intolerable to expect the public to cope with the consequences if they unfold...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The point I am making is that the effect of this is not uniform in all parts of the country. My contention is that ensuring adequate police numbers is a...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend makes a very good point about the ripple effect of the loss of numbers throughout other related services. In evidence to the Public Accounts Committee, the police and crime...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

I would like to make some progress. The first part of the picture that I am setting out is clear. We have far fewer police officers than we did— 2,000 fewer in my force, and more than...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

I do not know what the Minister in Scotland has said, but I welcome the admission from the Home Secretary this week that police numbers matter, that they are important and that they are part of...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

I think it is tragic if the state spends money training good police officers who end up, for the reasons that my hon. Friend has set out, leaving the force and embarking on another career.

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. The reason for these cuts in numbers, which I have read out to the House, is a steep cut in Government funding to the police. In this financial year,...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend makes a very good point about the level of crime and I will come on to that issue. There is no point in the Home Secretary publicly saying that we need more officers and then...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. As I said in my opening sentences, the issue affects many public services. I have focused particularly on the police in this debate, but Members could be...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

The price is being paid on the streets of the west midlands, the streets of Greater Manchester, the streets of Durham, the streets of Cardiff and the streets of everyone who has made interventions.

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. There is simply no point in the Prime Minister promising to her conference, and to the public through her conference, that austerity has ended and then...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. Several chief constables have issued similar warnings about their capacity to give the public the service that they expect. This also has major...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend makes a good point. It confirms my view, after two years on the Brexit Select Committee, that new implications of this decision unfold every week that we did not know...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend is right that as time changes, the pressures on the police change, and the things they are asked to do are changing. The Home Secretary’s admission this week is hugely...

Police Employer Pension Contributions

Commons debates

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He shares my contention that the public and police should not be asked to bear the brunt of this. For many years, the Government have claimed that there is no...