Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, will today warn that "critical duties" may be at risk because cuts if up to a third in the Home Office budget.
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Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, will today warn that “critical duties” may be at risk because cuts if up to a third in the Home Office budget. This morning’s Telegraph reports Sir Hugh’s concerns that the number of officers patrolling our streets could fall because it is not “sustainable” in the wake of the cuts, with tens of thousands of police jobs expected to go. He will tell the ACPO annual conference that police will have to “share the pain” and that “hard choices” will have to be made. Sir Hugh will say: “The harsh reality is that, depending on the severity of the cuts ahead, it would be misleading in the extreme if we were to suggest that the size of the service is sustainable. Quite simply it is not… However, we must guard against the understandable demand for more and more officers on the street in neighbourhoods if it is at the cost of all the other less visible yet critical duties we undertake.”
The report adds: “Ministers are likely to see Sir Hugh’s comments as the opening salvo in a political battle over funding. The Prime Minister has said he wants to avoid cuts to front line services. David Cameron and his ministers have refused publicly to state that overall police numbers could fall, let alone the numbers on patrol. Asked directly last week, Mr Cameron went no further than refusing to rule out a fall in numbers… Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has also refused to confirm that police numbers could fall. She will attempt to free more officers from red tape by scrapping Labour’s ten-point Policing Pledge.” While The Independent reports that Sir Hugh will warn that “wholesale budget cuts without centrally co-ordinated reform risks fragmenting the work of police”.
The Guardian reports the Government’s new ‘poverty tsar’ Frank Field’s latest remarks about welfare, with his call that “shirking fathers” should lose benefits, that the debate should be moved on from an “obsession with single mothers”. Field says the focus should shift from getting young single mothers into work – “irrespective of what they think” – and onto young, unemployed fathers, “whose historic role as the family breadwinner has had to be taken over by the taxpayer”, saying men who refuse to take up an offer of work should have their benefit removed altogether. He says: “The reason why we have so many single mums is because we have so many single dads who cannot fulfil what most single mothers want from their partners, and the children from their fathers.” Adding: “The feminisation of debate about poverty has largely been run by upwardly mobile, very successful women… For a large section of what used to be the core of the Labour vote – working class women – what they say they most want is a husband or partner in work which allows them their private domain of the family in which they can not only nurture but take on work when they think it is right, for their children, to do so.”
The Independent reports that rising ocean temperatures are “killing” coral reefs, which support a quarter of the world’s marine life, with the impact of their decline “huge”. Marine biologist Olivia Durkin warns: “A a result of rising sea temperatures, we are seeing the degradation and eventual destruction of one of the most beautiful ecosystems on Earth. Corals around the world are succumbing to yet another mass ‘bleaching event’; reefs that were once a rich mosaic of colours are now shockingly white as corals fade and die… Bleaching is the ultimate stress reaction, when environmental conditions decline to a point where they cannot sustain the coral-algae relationship… Over the next 30 years, coral reefs are expected to become highly susceptible to frequent bleaching events, and we will lose the functionality of our reefs. Recurrent bleaching, along with ocean acidification, is likely to be the greatest threat. So whether the current bleaching turns out to be the worst on record or not, it is certainly a wake-up call. The fact is the sea is getting warmer and frequent bleaching events are a grave consequence of this. Humankind must do all it can to limit continuing warming of the sea or damage to the reefs themselves. We must reduce our carbon emissions significantly, improve water quality, promote the effective coral reef management and enhance reef recovery through reef restoration projects. The repercussions of repeated mass bleaching are dire. Not only for marine life but ultimately for us all.” Yesterday, Left Foot Forward reported figures from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (NOAA) showing us to have had the hottest year on record and the hottest decade on record, with Arctic sea ice facing a record low.
The Financial Times reports Vince Cable’s warning that the car industry could no longer count on direct support from the Government. The business secretary had not decided to offer subisidies worth up to £5,000 a car from next year for early buyers of low-emission vehicles – as promised by Labour. The FT reports: “Although his comments were aimed at the car industry, Mr Cable made it clear he would only give direct grants to individual companies in exceptional circumstances, focusing instead on creating a better climate for business through lower taxes and promoting training. His approach contrasts with that of Peter Mandelson, former business secretary, whose industrial activism often included grants and loans to companies, including carmakers.” He had said: “We’re moving away out of an emergency time, and support will come in more indirect ways… Not in direct support for companies – we don’t have the funding to do that, and it isn’t good policy anyway.” Cable said the government had not yet decided whether to extend subsidies for electric and plug-in hybrid cars that GM, Nissan and other carmakers said were essential if the UK hoped to become a centre for low-carbon vehicle production, prompting Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Market Manufacturers or Traders, to warn: “To build a market for these cars, there has to be some kind of incentive.”
And The Guardian reports the US Supreme Court’s judgement extending the rights of gun owners, overturning a ban on handguns in Chicago that has stood for 28 years. The verdict, though welcomed by the National Rifle Association – the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre calling it “a great moment in American history” – was criticised by the Violence Policy Center, which said: “People will die because of this decision. The gun lobby and gunmakers are seeking nothing less than the complete dismantling of our nation’s gun laws.” It estimates that 30,000 people die in the US through gun violence every year; in Britain, which has much stricter gun control laws, the toll is considerably less. The report adds: “Other big cities that have introduced tough restrictions on gun ownership, such as New York, are also likely to face challenges. Daniel Vice, a lawyer at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the gun lobby and criminals would now be emboldened to try to push back local laws. But he thought that in the overwhelming number of cases, those challenges would be rejected by the courts. ‘Cities will still be allowed to regulate the type of guns that can be bought and to keep them out of the possession of dangerous people,’ he said.”
14 Responses to “Politics Summary: Tuesday, June 29th”
Paige Goff
Politics Summary: Tuesday, June 29th | Left Foot Forward: Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Assoc… http://bit.ly/dd3cyC http://bit.ly/NTnuK
Marcel Duda
<b>Politics</b> Summary: Tuesday, June 29th | Left Foot Forward http://goo.gl/fb/uaqIS
Mr. Sensible
Shamik, did you see in the Guardian that the BNP was facing Contempt Of Court proceedings relating to its constitution?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/28/bnp-finances-contempt-court
In my view, it is wrong to allow citizens to bear arms, and I am pleased that we do have strict gun controls, and therefore events like those in Cumbria are thankfully rare.
BTW, did anyone see Jeremy Hunt’s disgraceful attack on the Liverpool fans after Hillsborough?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/28/jeremy-hunt-hillsborough-gaffe-apology
Why did he make that disgraceful comment? We already know that the fans were not to blame for what happened in Hillsborough, and thus this is a disgraceful slur. I think Mr. Hunt should be considering his position.
Mr. Sensible
BTW, now we know that policing numbers may be cut.
Ms May has said that officers should spend more time on the streets and not doing paperwork, however, I believe 1 of the things Labour did was to allow officers to use PDAs.
And I notice the Policing Pledge is being scrapped; another reality check for the Government’s eficiency drive.