Local MP for Hastings and Rye, Sally-Ann Hart, has welcomed Sussex Police receiving an additional £18.1 million in its funding next year, thanks to the Conservative government’s increase to police budgets.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced policing will receive up to £15.8 billion in 2021-22 – an increase of £636 million on last year.
This includes over £400 million to recruit 20,000 extra police officers by 2023, delivering on the promise made by the Conservatives in last year’s general election. Sussex Police has already benefited from an additional 129 officers.
The funding will also be used to bolster counter-terrorism policing, including money for armed policing and more officers.
Keeping communities safe
The Conservative government has been determined to support the police throughout the coronavirus pandemic, as officers have worked tirelessly to keep communities safe. The government has provided £30 million to help forces step up coronavirus enforcement and has reimbursed forces for all additional PPE purchased between March and July.
Commenting, Sally-Ann said, “Officers and staff at Sussex Police have been instrumental in keeping our community safe this year, and I pay tribute to them for their hard work and professionalism. I am delighted to see Sussex Police getting an additional £18.1 million next year. I was proud to be elected last year on a promise to get more officers onto the streets and to ensure our police have what they need to keep us safe. This Conservative government is now doing exactly that – ensuring we build back safer as we recover from coronavirus.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel said, “we have asked more of the police than ever before during the coronavirus pandemic – the British people and I are extremely grateful for their dedication. I am absolutely committed to giving the police the resources they need – this funding package delivers on that. It will allow us to continue to put more police on the streets, and reduce crime as we build back safer from the pandemic.”
[Editors Note Last week’s Rye News featured a critical comment on a current survey on what priorities you believe Sussex police should have, and how they should spend their funds]
Source: Sally-Ann Hart press release
Image Credits: Nick Forman .
The unnamed writer of this article clearly shows a positive bias toward the Conservative Party and this is not welcomed. Rather than a more neutral and appropriate news report we are told via a press release from our MP’s office that this “Conservative government” is providing more funding for the police and to help the country deal with the pandemic. What rubbish and a huge disappointment that Rye News continues to publish uncritical press releases instead of news reports that provide a balanced perspective. A few facts omitted from this article and of course omitted from Sally Ann Hart’s press release, that would have helped put the press release in perspective. (1) It has been 11 years of Conservative governments that have gutted police forces across England and Wales by huge funding reductions resulting in the loss of over 10,000 police officers. At present they have reversed course and are finally funding the police again but they caused the problem to begin with through severe underfunding for years. (2) Does any sensible person in this country really believe the present Conservative government is truly keeping us safe and protecting us from the virus? Billions of pounds have been spent on PPE that has not worked, been faulty, not delivered to the locations that need them and have come without a proper bidding system. Instead, billions have gone to friends of Ministers and companies run by Conservative Party donors who have failed us all. Even The Times and The Telegraph have reported on this appalling situation as has The New York Times citing many examples of hubris where contracts were awarded to companies that have never before provided the equipment or service. (3) The previous Conservative Government cut the budget for Public Health England by 7% per year for 2 years. The current Conservative Government has gone even further and is planning to eliminate PHE entirely and place its very valuable work across different departments. No other EU or North American country has eliminated their public health department and one wonders why the government is planning to further weaken our response to present and future public health crises. What is their motive in doing so? (4) The Conservative government has undertaken a number of u-turns on lockdowns, changes to tiers, school attendance, mask wearing, social distancing, and rolled out a ‘world embarrassing’ test and trace system that is an utter failure. This Conservative government has put all of us more at risk and combined with their shambolic negotiations with the EU, we are placed at greater risk of hardship in the months and possibly years to come. May I suggest in future that Rye News simply offer readers a URL link to Sally-Ann Hart’s press releases and not report them as news as you have done on more than one occasion. It lowers the quality and reputation of this fine community resource to do so.
You object to what you see as political bias in an article – although it is simply quoting from a Press Release and that is made clear. You then embark on a long political rant against the Government with statements that are highly questionable. Your contribution does exactly what you accuse the editor of doing: lowering the quality and reputation of this fine community resource.
I heard recently that the previous Labour candidate for Hastings and Rye will not be standing again. Can one assume, therefore, that professor Camic’s somewhat inaccurate rant is a declaration of his intention to fill that position? His accusation of political bias is surely negated by the editor’s comment at the end of the article. But perhaps the good professor didn’t bother to read that far.
Dear Mr Harris and Mr Rothwell, This wasn’t a rant for me as you suggest, but an expression of anger at the profound failure of this government to adequately care for its citizens. By labelling it as a rant you attempt to diminish and marginalise. Nothing I wrote was inaccurate. Where is your outrage at how PPE has been bought and allocated, for example? Or your questioning why repeated Conservative governments have significantly reduced funding for the police ( and now claim to be rushing in without any remorse or apologies for causing the problem)? And yes I did note that the ‘source’ of the article was a press release. You are missing the point, the writer used only one source. That’s not news reporting if it is a politically biased source as any MP press release may possibly be. There was no balance, no attempt to question or analyse. We mustn’t be silent. It is essential to critique government actions and even volunteer news sources.
Dear Professor Camic. Thank you for your response. Even if you do not regard your outburst as a rant it was an expression of angry political bias quoting opinion as fact. But more serious is your attack on the probity of the editorial team. The Editor has made it absolutely clear that the piece was from a Press Release. To accuse the Editor of political bias is unfair in the extreme and you should have the decency to apologise for that slur. If the Editorial team had shown political bias, it would certainly not have printed the attack by Kevin Moore on the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner in the previous edition.
As GH suggested in a previous post,lets hope in the New Year the Blame Game stops, whatever party one supports, whatever injustices we have seen,after this dreaded Covid lets move forward together,and not in the past, life is too short to remain bitter and twisted.So happy New Year too all at Rye News, and its readers.