Federation seeks meetings with new MPs

9 July 2024

Derbyshire’s newly-elected MPs will be invited to meet Federation officials to discuss the issue affecting the county’s police officers.

In line with the landslide nationally, Labour gained eight seats across the county and the Derby and Derbyshire constituencies now all have Labour MPs.

“We would very much like to meet with our newly-elected MPs as early as we possibly can,” says Kirsty Bunn, secretary of Derbyshire Police Federation.

“Policing is in crisis. Morale among officers is low with many feeling they were not treated fairly by the previous Government. They have suffered a 20 per cent cut in their pay in real-terms in recent years and they have lost faith in the pay review body since it is not independent.

Parliament

“It’s time for a re-set. We would like to sit down with our new MPs, share our members’ concerns with them and give them an insight into the current issues in the police service. As a Federation, we are keen to forge effective working relationships with those who represent us within the Government and hope that we can develop a two-way dialogue with benefits on both sides.

“We want our MPs to give police officers a voice in Parliament and would urge them to influence the Government’s decision-making processes on our behalf.”

Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer.

In its election manifesto, Labour set out plans to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and said its mission was to ‘take back our streets’, reducing serious violence and rebuilding public confidence in policing by getting officers back on the streets.

The party said it would introduce a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, restoring patrols to town centres by recruiting thousands of new police officers, police and community support officers (PCSOs) and Special Constables and putting 13,000 extra neighbourhood police and PCSOs on the beat.

Officer numbers

“Of course, we welcome any plans to increase police officer numbers,” says Kirsty, “But we would like a discussion with our MPs about these plans because it’s not just about officer numbers. We also need to an investment in the infrastructure that will be needed for these officers – police bases, equipment and training, for example.

“These numbers grab the headlines but there has to be an understanding of what is required to support new officers, and that includes fair pay too. We can’t get into a situation where we invest in training new recruits only for us to be unable to retain them because their pay doesn’t reflect the challenges and dangers they face when going about their duties.”

Labour has also pledged to introduce new penalties for offenders, get knives off the streets, set up a specialist rape unit in every police force and launch a new network of Young Futures hubs.

Funding for its manifesto pledges would come from ending private schools’ tax breaks and a Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme.