RISHI SUNAK: Our 20,000 new police officers will help keep Britain’s streets safe

At the last election, Conservatives made the country a promise – to recruit 20,000 additional police officers to make our streets safer and our communities stronger. Yesterday, we fulfilled that promise to the British people.

That’s thousands more police officers in England and Wales cracking down on crime, tackling violent offenders and helping to put criminals behind bars.

That’s more bobbies on the beat helping to make our streets safer, putting a stop to shattering violence against women and girls, tackling disgusting predators, horrific abuse and the grooming gangs that prey on the vulnerable.

More uniformed officers to deal with appalling antisocial behaviour, and the shocking gangs that terrorise neighbourhoods and make people feel under attack in their own homes.

And more constables to take knives and other weapons off our streets.

RISHI SUNAK: At the last election, Conservatives made the country a promise – to recruit 20,000 additional police officers to make our streets safer and our communities stronger. Yesterday, we fulfilled that promise to the British people

I’m grateful to every one of those police officers helping to keep people and communities safe. It takes real dedication and courage to pull on a uniform every morning and go out and protect the public.

Right now, thanks to the Government’s national recruitment campaign, there are 20,951 extra police in England and Wales. This is more than at any other time in our history and includes record numbers of women and police from ethnic minority backgrounds. There are nearly 14,000 more female officers and over 5,300 more officers from ethnic minority backgrounds than in 2010.

But it’s not enough simply to put more police on our streets. We must back them with the powers and the resources they need to do their job. So we’re funding the police with up to £17.2billion this year.

We’re bringing in tough new measures to stamp out anti-social behaviour for good, including banning nitrous oxide to stop gangs of young people dropping cannisters in parks and playgrounds; putting more uniformed officers in the worst affected areas in new ‘hotspot’ policing and making sure perpetrators repair the damage they have done by cleaning graffiti, washing police cars or picking up litter.

We’re giving the police new powers through our Public Order Bill to crack down on protestors who cause serious disruption and make people’s lives a misery.

We’re keeping violent criminals in jail for longer, bringing in the toughest sentences for abhorrent crimes, including life imprisonment for those who cause or allow the death of a child.

Our approach is working. Neighbourhood crime – including thefts, robberies and burglaries – has nearly halved since 2010. More than 3,500 ‘county lines’ gangs have been shut down, with more than 10,000 arrests made. And 90,000 knives have been taken off our streets through stop and search and other targeted police action.

But we cannot rest until everyone in every part of our country can go about their lives free from the fear of crime.

We know that there have been serious failures of culture and leadership, and trust in the police has been hugely damaged.

While the vast majority of officers are dedicated to protecting the public, we will stop at nothing to root out and remove any not fit to serve. That’s why all police forces are cross-checking their police officer and staff records, the Angiolini Inquiry is looking into the horrific murder of Sarah Everard, and the Vetting Code of Practice is being strengthened.

I want to build stronger and safer communities so people can feel proud of their neighbourhoods and their country.

Daily Mail readers deserve to see more police patrolling their streets. They deserve to know that those who carry out violent attacks will be caught. They deserve to feel secure in their homes. And women and girls deserve to be able to walk the streets without worrying about the footsteps behind them.

This is what I am determined to deliver for Mail readers and law-abiding people across the country. And with yesterday’s news we took a big step towards that goal.