Chris Philp struggled to defend the Tory's record on law and order during the Channel 4 debate
Tory Minister Chris Philp was fact checked live on air during a debate on immigration, law and order over Tory claims about ‘record’ police officer numbers.
A panel from seven main parties went before a live studio audience and host Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News last night to discuss a range of issues around migration, policing and justice.
Chris Philp claimed during the debate that there were “record numbers” of police officers in England and Wales since 2010. However Channel 4, which was running a live fact checking account during the debate, stated for context, that its analysis found there are actually fewer officers per head of the population than in 2009.
After boasting of record police numbers another time during the debate, the host Guru-Murthy jumped in and said, “just factually we should tell people, although the absolute number of police, if they deliver, will be the highest ever, they won’t be the highest ever per capita.”
Even if the Conservatives meet their manifesto pledge to recruit 8,000 “full time, fully warranted” police officers in England and Wales, FactCheck by Channel 4 found the numbers still won’t be restored to pre-2010 levels. It found there would still be 5% fewer officers per person than there were before the Tories were in power.
(Image credit: Channel 4 / YouTube screenshot)
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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