The Prime Minister has promised to recruit 20,000 more police officers for England and Wales.

This commitment comes on top of the work already done here in Essex. I have worked closely with our excellent local Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Roger Hirst, to improve police presence in our area. Thanks to Roger’s work, last year we were able to announce a further 389 officers for Essex and now, with the Prime Minister’s announcement, we can hope to have another 450.

The benefits of last year’s increase are already being felt – burglary locally is down by 13%, and theft from cars and vans down by 11%, a real achievement.

If elected I will work with Roger, the Home Office and the local police to ensure we get the bobbies we need in our area so that we can further reduce these crimes and tackle rural crimes like fly-tipping and farm machinery theft.