article_snippet: In this parliament, Even Ed Balls said Tory plans ‘would be equivalent to 29,900 police officers lost and 6,700 PCSOs [police community support officers] lost’.
article_snippet: This would take the overall numbers of police on the streets well below 100,000 and well below the levels of the late 1970s.
article_snippet: Crime is the best illustration of the Conservative mantra that it is possible to do ‘more for less in public services’.
article_snippet: Despite Labour’s warning in 2010 that Home Secretary Theresa May was taking ‘huge risks with the public’s safety’ by cutting police funding, crime is down by more than a fifth.
article_snippet: There would be 34,500 fewer soldiers and 60,800 fewer personnel, which would ‘fundamentally impact on the UK’s ability to project power around the world at a time when we face multiple threats’.