A cabinet split over knife crime has burst into the open after Theresa May refused to boost police funding despite demands from her home secretary for her to consider more cash.
Sajid Javid said police funding is “very important” to tackle Britain’s violent crime epidemic, and stressed that “we have to listen” to top officers “when they talk about resources”.
But his comments after emergency talks with chief constables came as May refused to bow to pressure to announce a cash injection for the police, saying she agreed with Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick’s insistence that “we can’t arrest our way out of this problem”.
A string of fatal teen stabbings have sparked a heated debate over police officer numbers in England and Wales, which have dropped by more than 20,000 since 2009, and Javid is said to have clashed with the prime minister over the issue on Tuesday.
May’s personal reputation is bound up in the row, as she repeatedly clashed with the Police Federation for “crying wolf” about budget cuts and scaled back officers’ stop-and-search powers due to concerns over racism when she served as home secretary.
After meeting police chiefs, Javid promised to do “everything I can” to make sure police forces get the resources they need to tackle violent crime.
“I think police resources are very important to deal with this.
“We’ve got to do everything we can. I’m absolutely committed to working with the police in doing this.
“We have to listen to them when they talk about resources.”
Following the roundtable, National Police Chiefs Council chairwoman Sara Thornton linked the fall in police officers to rising crime.
She promised that police chiefs will set out what they need to fund a “surge” in officers to tackle violent crime by the end of the week.
“We know what tactics work, we know what we can do to surge operational capacity to deal with these crimes.
“But we haven’t always got that capacity, haven’t got the officers, so we’ve agreed by the end of the week we will set out the scale of the investment required.”
Javid also suggested the government could relax rules around stop and search, saying he had discussed with police chiefs “some changes potentially” to the voluntary code that governs the tactic.
At prime minister’s questions, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused May of attempting to keep communities safe “on the cheap”.
“The problem is that violent crime has doubled - the rise has been driven by austerity, something the prime minister told us a few months ago was over”
- Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
Responding, May committed to holding a holding a summit in coming days to explore “what more we can do as a whole society to tackle this problem”.
But she stressed: “Responsibility for these terrible crimes does lie with the perpetrators and we will always stand with the victims to ensure that criminals are brought to justice
“But we will only defeat the scourge of violence if we understand and address its complex root causes.
“It does mean ensuring that all agencies including the police have the right resources and powers to do their jobs, it means tackling the drug crime that is fuelling gang violence in our cities and exporting it across the country.
“And it means intervening at every stage to turn young people away from violence.
“And that’s exactly what the government is doing.”
But Corbyn said: “The problem is that violent crime has doubled - the rise has been driven by austerity, something the prime minister told us a few months ago was over.
“Cuts to the police, rising poverty, the police and Home Office recognise the link even if the prime minister doesn’t.
“But the issues are wider - the privatisation of the probation service has been a disaster, mental health services are under-resourced, youth and children’s services are in crisis, more than 600 youth centres have been closed, 3,500 youth workers have lost their jobs, funding for colleges and schools has been cut and exclusions are rising.
“The public services that were there to support young people have been systematically stripped away and everyone can see the consequences of that.
“Can the prime minister not recognise there has to be a holistic response to this?
“You cannot keep communities safe on the cheap by cuts and privatisation, you have to invest in all of our communities in every part of this country - something this government is incapable of doing.”