Home secretary Sajid Javid today set up a battle with chancellor Philip Hammond in next years Budget as he called for increased spending on policing.
Javid will tomorrow announce funding for an extra 2,000 security services officers as the government tries to address a perceived increase in the threat from terrorism.
MI5, the domestic intelligence agency, will also be pushed to give neighbourhood police and even local government more information on potential terrorist threats.
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The Treasury has already backed the new spending on security services, but Javid today told the BBC that increasing the resourcing of police would be a priority at the next Budget.
“Weve got to make sure theyre properly resourced,” Javid said, although he acknowledged that he had “not yet” gained the agreement of the Treasury and that he will make his view known to the chancellor, Philip Hammond.
“I want to make it a priority of mine in the next spending review next year,” Javid said.
Asked if he had “hinted” that police will get more money, Javid responded: “It was more than a hint, it was recognition that our police have an incredibly difficult job to do.”
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The government has come under pressure to increase spending on policing after opposition claims that a recent spate in knife crime in London in particular was a consequence of diminishing resources for police.
Javid also cited increased demand on the police for cybersecurity, investigations into childhood sexual exploitation and historical sex offences, and domestic abuse.
Research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that real spending, adjusted for inflation, on police fell by 14 per cent between 2010-11 and 2014-15. The number of police officers in England and Wales had also fallen by the same proportion between 2009 and 2017.
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Separately, Javid said the government has identified 63 cases of people from the so-called Windrush generation who were wrongly deported and whom the government is trying to bring back to the UK.
The wrongful “Windrush” deportations, of citizens who came to the UK as part of the iconic first wave of immigrants from former British colonies after the Second World War, have caused serious political damage to the government, culminating in the resignation of Javids predecessor, Amber Rudd.
Of the 63, the government will not seek to bring back 32 convicted criminals. Javid said the government has got in contact with seven of the the remaining 31.
“We are going to make every effort that we possibly can if we want to return them,” he said.
Read more: Home secretary: At least 63 Windrush citizens wrongly deported since 2002
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