With 600 fewer frontline officers and over £67m cut from police budgets since 2010 in South Yorkshire alone, residents here in Barnsley have felt first-hand the impact of this Government’s cuts to policing.
But the Government’s new police grant for future budgets will bring yet another real-terms cut to central government funding.
What’s more, using a council tax precept to increase funding allows leafy, affluent suburbs to raise so much more to tackle crime than communities like ours that really need it most.
Today I voted against this perverse and grossly unfair settlement that once again reveals this Government’s neglect of our community.
You can watch my comments here.