Dear Editor

I am astounded and disgusted at the Government’s decision to abandon a manifesto pledge to recruit 24,000 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) by March 2008.

This means that the Merseyside Police Force where they had been planning for 742 new PCSOs by March 2008, there will now only be 466. The cuts in funding mean that the Government has broken its manifesto pledge at the last election to “take CSO numbers up to 24,000”.

This comes as the police levy on council tax across Merseyside has soared by 81% since 1997, with further hikes expected this April.

The Government has also recently shelved the planned nationwide roll-out of the ‘non-emergency’ version of 999, which would have allowed people to report low-level crimes, vandalism and anti-social behaviour to police and local councils via one simple telephone number.

It’s clear that people want to see a uniformed presence on their streets to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour and to provide reassurance to their community. This broken promise will mean fewer Police Community Support Officers in Merseyside and Wirral than originally planned, which is a serious loss.

There is already a feeling that Wirral doesn’t receive enough local policing. People will rightly ask why they are paying ever higher council tax bills – including a soaring police levy on council tax - when they don’t get the services in return.

Yours sincerely

Esther McVey
Parliamentary Spokesperson
Wirral West Conservatives