• THERESA May has long held the view that there is no direct link between numbers of police officers and levels of crime, setting about to prove it first as home secretary and then as prime minister.

During that time police numbers have fallen by almost 22,000. Yet for the first time in a decade the numbers of crimes recorded annually have passed the five million mark rising by 13 per cent. Camden has followed the national trend and seen a rise in crime, particular moped-related offences.

Already the Met has cut £600m and will have to save almost £400m over the next few years despite dire warnings from Cressida Dick. In Camden alone we have seen stations close and our police numbers have fallen by 32 per cent.

What is perhaps most depressing is how the Tories have abdicated responsibility for scything police resources centrally by blaming government locally.

It is often said but seldom appreciated – Camden Council has lost 50 per cent of its funding since the Tories began their austerity regime. Residents across the borough are experiencing the impact of these cuts.

Camden Conservatives claim they will make the borough safer, greener, and cleaner. How will they do that we wonder? Perhaps by cutting SureStart or women’s refuges or by reducing funding to the voluntary sector or to mental health and disability services?

Or maybe they have a direct line to the PM’s office and can ask for increased funding? If that is the case why haven’t they done so already?

Councils up and down the country are being trounced for the reductions to police numbers, changes to bin collections, the closure of community spaces, or the lack of new social housing.

But all of these things are happening because of the Conservative vision of an austere Britain. So what if there is collateral damage – it’s a small price to pay for balancing the books. But this trade off hasn’t worked and sacrificing local public services isn’t helping anyone no matter what their political colour.

The PM claims the rise in crime is because the police are better at recording them. Cutting police numbers does mean a rise in crime whatever the prime minister may say and we urge Camden Tories to tell her so.

SUCHARITA SETHI
JAMES CAIMUS
MOMOTA KHATOON
Labour candidates for Belsize ward