Lib Dem leader backs Cleveland Police funding calls

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey says the government should give Cleveland Police £20m extra a year so it can employ hundreds more officers to tackle the highest crime rate in England.

The force's Chief Constable and Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) have asked the home secretary for extra funding after the deaths of two police officers in a crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough. Five young men also died.

Speaking ahead of his party's conference, Sir Ed backed their funding calls, adding: "When you look at the crime figures you wonder why government hasn't acted before."

The government has given the force an extra £2m to tackle organised crime and says its budget is rising.

PCs Matthew Blades and Tom Clough died on 22 August when a car travelling the wrong way crashed head-on into their marked police vehicle.

The five young men in the other car, a Volkswagen Passat, also died. An investigation is ongoing.

Chief Constable Victoria Fuller and Labour PCC Matt Storey have written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to ask for a bigger budget, so they can employ up to 500 more officers.

Sir Ed said Cleveland "is being treated like a rural police force".

"The Liberal Democrats have long argued that rural forces don't get sufficient resources. But with the highest crime levels in England, Cleveland should be treated as if it's an urban area and getting that level of resource."

He defended his part in decisions made when he was part of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. Funding cuts saw Cleveland Police lose 400 officers between 2010 and 2015.

"We had some difficult decisions when we came in, but we fought for more community officers and I want to make sure that is all turned round," he said.

"I fought the Conservatives every day in that coalition on a whole range of things. When you're in government you sometimes have to make compromises, but I wanted to make sure we campaigned to restore that level of funding."

Sir Ed said a merger of Cleveland with neighbouring forces "might be worth looking at" but was not the "first priority."

He also said his party's policy of replacing most prison sentences of fewer than 12 months with community-based punishments would help cut crime rather than encourage it.

"I see the evidence that if you put young people in for short sentences, they learn how to commit even greater crimes.

"It is really clear that sometimes those short sentences are actually counterproductive, and they result in more and more crime."

The Home Office has said Cleveland Police will receive a 3.7% rise in funding this year - and it had committed to a "wider review" of the police funding formula, to ensure it "is fair and responsive to local needs."

The BBC is interviewing the leaders of all the main political parties ahead of their conferences.

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