Balls Criticises Police Cutbacks

Labour candidate Debbie Abrahams and Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls out campaigning in Derker today.

Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls today accused the coalition government of being “out of touch” over cuts to the police. On a campaign visit to Derker with Labour by-election candidate Debbie Abrahams, he said the police were being hit “disproportionately hard.”

More than 3,000 jobs are expected to go at Greater Manchester Police by 2015, which is about a quarter of its total workforce. More than 1,300 of those positions will be police officers, with the other jobs being lost among support and back office staff.

It’s been one of the main themes of this Labour campaign, and Mr Balls today told Saddleworth News: “I think David Cameron’s got a blind spot for policing. He doesn’t understand how important police officers and PCSOs are for communities like this, for people who want to feel safe walking in the park.”

He added: “I think it just shows how out of touch they are with the reality of people’s lives, and so I think it’s foolish and wrong to so disproportionately hit policing in this way.”

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have insisted that they will free up officers to spend more time away from their desks. They’ve also repeatedly criticised the last Labour government for allowing bureaucracy to take up too much police time.

Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls speaks to a newspaper reporter in Derker today.

Mr Balls responded: “It’s really important not simply that people are arrested, but that you can take that forward to a conviction when a crime’s been committed. That means you’ve got to have proper records which stand up in court.”

He continued: “But where there’s unnecessary bureaucracy you should get that out of the way. That’s what we tried really hard to do… but at the end of the day if you’re cutting ten or twenty thousand police officers of our streets, no amount of bureacracy’s going to stop that hitting the front line. And I’m fearful for what that means for the safety of our communities in the coming period.”

The government today raised the security threat level to severe at major transport hubs. Mr Balls commented: “This is not a time to be cutting by 10% the national security budget for counter-terrorism. But, as I’ve been hearing here in Derker, nor is it the time to be taking away police officers and PCSOs from our streets.”

Mr Balls took a walk through Stoneleigh Park, before knocking on a few doors and visiting a local shop. In response to questions from another reporter, he also discussed local housing and Educational Maintenance Allowances.

Labour candidate Debbie Abrahams, Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls and Saddleworth News editor Richard Jones walk through a snowy Stoneleigh Park in Derker today. (picture: Stuart Coleman Photography)

You can listen to the interview in full here.

A total of ten candidates are standing in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election. You can get full interviews with Labour’s Debbie Abrahams here, BNP candidate Derek Adams here, Conservative Kashif Ali here, Peter Allen of the Greens here, Pirate Party UK candidate Loz Kaye here, Stephen Morris of the English Democrats here, UKIP candidate Paul Nuttall here and Liberal Democrat Elwyn Watkins here.

The other candidates are David Bishop of the Bus Pass Elvis Party and Nick “The Flying Brick” Delves from the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Polling day is on Thursday. Lots of senior politicians have been campaigning in our area in recent weeks, and you can read and listen to David Cameron’s interview with Saddleworth News here. You can hear from Conservative Chairman Baroness Warsi is here.

An interview with the Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is here, while a chat with Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable is here. There are interviews with Labour leader Ed Miliband here and here, and Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson here. UKIP leader Nigel Farage spoke to Saddleworth News here.

To read full coverage of the by-election so far from Saddleworth News, click here.

The third picture was taken by Diggle-based Stuart Coleman of Stuart Coleman Photography. Do take a look at his website here.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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