In 2019, the Government promised to recruit 20,000 extra police nationally. But Sadiq Khan closing police stations, including Eltham, means we're not seeing the benefit of these extra police. That's why we want new police hubs in Eltham, Kidbrooke Village and Mottingham or Chislehurst.
One of the first duties of any government is to keep the people they serve safe, and as your MP I promise I would work to ensure residents across the Eltham and Chislehurst constituency feel secure and proud of the place we call home.
Since 2019, the Conservative Government has delivered on their manifesto commitment to recruit 20,000 new police officers and in December announced £843m extra funding to raise police funding by 30.7% in cash terms since 2019-20.
However in London, the picture on policing is more complex as the Mayor of London is responsible for the way Metropolitan Police resources are allocated. For example, in 2023 the Metropolitan Police became the only force in the country not to meet its recruitment target (leaving it 1,000 Officers short of the amount the Government wanted across London). As the Mayor is responsible for the management of policing in London, this means the role of MP has to include working with and lobbying City Hall to ensure Eltham and Chislehurst get the resources they deserves and require, something I have a track record of campaigning on already.
My Record
As a Councillor in the Royal Borough of Greenwich I had a strong record of supporting the police and campaigning against the closure of police stations. My track record includes:
· Opposing the closure and sell-off of Eltham Police Station by the Mayor of London through a petition, questions in Council and letters to the key stakeholders.
· Proposing alternative solutions to ensure a police presence remains in Eltham including the Council purchasing the old police station, and alternative police bases such as a local community room or opening up space in the Eltham Centre.
· Campaigning for the Metropolitan Police to receive space for a police base in the Kidbrooke Village.
My record on supporting the police to be able to do their job speaks for itself and I would expand on this as the MP for Eltham and Chislehurst.
Labour representative’s records as MP and Mayor of London
Eltham’s existing Labour MP, Clive Efford (who is standing in the new Eltham and Chislehurst seat at the next General Election) has seen both the major police stations in his existing constituency sold off while representing the area. Shooters Hill Police Station was sold under a Labour Government and Eltham Police Station by the Labour Mayor of London, so Mr Efford did not oppose either sale and did not even attend the consultation meeting about the closure of the station in Eltham. The only police base now left in the existing Eltham constituency is on the Coldharbour Estate, which has benefited from being consistently represented by Conservative Councillors since 2002.
Based on his record, it appears residents can have no faith that Mr Efford will stand up for their interests and improve policing in the Eltham and Chislehurst constituency.
Of more concern is Mr Efford’s failure to address the failings of the Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, over the police. The substantial rise in knife crime has already been covered elsewhere, so I want to focus on a few of the many other failings which have passed without comment from Mr Efford:
· Not recruiting enough police: Despite receiving funding to increase police numbers by around 4,500 officers, Sadiq Khan only recruited 3,500 from 2019 to 2023 – the only police force nationally to miss its target.
· More crime but less detection: The proportion of offences where a sanction is received has more than halved over 10 years from 21% in 2012-13 to 8% in 2022-23. The decline is even more for some specific crimes like domestic abuse, rape, and other sexual offences where the sanction detection rate has dropped by over 75% in the past ten years.
· Failing to review stop and search policies: Despite promising a review into the way stop and search can and should be used in 2020, by November 2023 Sadiq Khan had done nothing to advance this work undermining both public confidence in the police and officers' confidence in the use of this power.
My promise as your MP
As the MP for Eltham and Chislehurst I will work to ensure that you feel safe in your home, on the streets of our communities and have confidence that the police will work for you and your community.
Central to this will be ensuring the police have the resources necessary to do their jobs. The current government has increased funding substantially but the Mayor of London simply has not used it to recruit enough officers.
In addition, I will campaign to bring police bases back to our communities in Chislehurst or Mottingham, Kidbrooke Village and Eltham. More officers simply cannot be crammed into the existing, much reduced space meaning there has to be investment in local bases allowing Officers to be a more visible part of the community they work in. The current policy of police having to travel from a police base some distance from their beat is simply inefficient, wasting valuable time and energy which could be spent on better things.
Too many police officers in London now need to travel from outside the M25 to work, it is wrong that key workers can no longer afford to live in the communities they work in. I will campaign for a review of the policy used by many Councils (especially the Royal Borough of Greenwich) of buying homes on the open market. Instead, these funds should be used to build new homes with key workers given priority to live in them.
Improving public confidence in the police is key for individuals to feel safe and secure in their communities. We know a third of Londoners don’t feel confident in the ability of the police to protect the public and a majority lacking confidence in police handling of non-emergency calls – this has to change.
Far too often these days better marketing appears to be thought as the answer to improving confidence but with increased crime, low levels of detection and a myriad of public failings (not least of which the handling of Just Stop Oil protestors blocking roads) the only solution here is better performance. I will work to analyse police performance in the Eltham and Chislehurst constituency and ensure that residents’ concerns are genuinely being addressed so they can have confidence that the police will support them.
Finally, I will work to support the London police officers who work so hard to keep us safe. Allowing them to live close to where they work seems essential but also knowing that they enjoy the support of politicians in what is an exceptionally demanding job is essential. Our police deserve clarity in what we expect of them but also support when they make honest mistakes (which we all do).