Wiltshire MPs unite to push for better funding for police force

Wiltshire’s six MPs – three Conservatives and three Liberal Democrats – are lobbying the Home Secretary over the budget shortfall faced by Wiltshire Police.

Despite a £6.4 million funding increase the MPs say Wiltshire Police is still underfunded, and have written to Yvette Cooper asking her to to rebalance the police funding formula, which they say disadvantages Wiltshire.

Wiltshire Police, they say, is already the UK’s third lowest-funded force per head of population, at £129 per person compared with the national average of £164.

The “population black hole” of Salisbury Plain is “Seriously distorting” the county’s population density, they say.

Brian Mathew (Melksham and Devizes), Sarah Gibson (Chippenham), John Glen (Salisbury), Danny Kruger (East Wiltshire), Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) and Roz Savage (South Cotswolds) say they are concerned that funding for Wiltshire’s police force will continue to fall behind as annual increases are awarded on percentage increases.

“Wiltshire falls behind every year,” they say.

They point out that although the force has identified savings of £1.6 million, making another £5.2 million in savings “will be difficult.”

The government’s decision to increase Employers’ National Insurance has placed an additional burden on the force’s budget, they say.

Welcoming the letter, Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson said: “While I have been lobbying the current and last government to revise the police funding formula, I’d like to thank the six MPs in Wiltshire, who have joined together to write to the government to raise this issue again.

“While our funding formula leaves us at a disadvantage to most other forces, I am delighted to report that the performance of Wiltshire Police continues to improve; the levels of most crimes are down and arrests are up. But as far as the Chief Constable Catherine Roper and I are concerned we want more improvements yet.”