Debate contribution: Policing Resources

Debate contribution by Mr Trevor Clarke on 9 September 2024.

MLA

Mr Trevor Clarke

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

9 September 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Policing Resources

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4511804

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Principal Deputy Speaker. I thank everyone who took part in the debate today. I think that everyone's contributions — almost everyone's — have been well mannered and reasonable. I will give a summary of what some Members said, and I think that there has been a general theme. My party colleague from Mid Ulster kicked off the debate. He talked about the concerns in policing and the necessity for a fair and equitable budget. No one, including the Minister, will disagree with that, but the thrust of the motion is about how we got here. When Jon Boutcher wrote the said letter, he probably did not realise that it would get as much attention as this. Today's debate, however, has been useful in enabling us to thrash that out and keep in people's minds the importance and necessity of having a properly funded police service. I appreciate what the Minister said about having tried to do that and not always getting the support, but, for us, it is about how it looks for the Department of Justice to rebuke the Chief Constable for sending the letter. Mr Buchanan was followed by the Member for Foyle, who also understood the need for a fairer and more balanced budget. Again, no one would disagree with that. The Member for North Down Mr Chambers reminded us about Patten and the numbers that were envisaged back then. Indeed, the conversation about numbers continued right up to New Decade, New Approach, but, of course, many people rushed back here without our being adequately funded directly after New Decade, New Approach. Whilst the two Governments of the time decided on the number of police that we should have, they, of course, did not adequately fund that. Many people were mad to get back here and saw ways of fixing that, but nothing has changed. The Member for North Belfast followed, and he reminded us again of the numbers and the need to consider how we address that. He referred to how many of us saw the attempt from the Department to gag the Chief Constable. Referenced already today were the contacts that the Chief Constable has and how he will use them. I think that that is useful. I accept that the Minister has made her calls at the Executive. I take that at face value and respect it. However, there are occasions when people know other people, and we should never waste that opportunity in trying to bring these things to a conclusion. The Member for East Antrim Mr Dickson was, dare I say, very defensive of the Minister, as usual, and I will park that one there. He was followed by my other colleague from East Antrim, and she was the first to mention the importance and significance of today for the emergency services. Indeed, the Minister acknowledged that in her contribution as well. Sometimes, we forget the role that all the emergency services play and what they do in serving our communities. The Member for North Belfast and my colleague on the Policing Board was defensive of the Minister and reminded us of our obligations. Of course, the letter reminded Mr Boutcher of his obligations, and that is what got us here. Sometimes, we need to be careful about language, about how we rebuke people and about how we explain things. We all have an appreciation of the difficulties of policing, but, sometimes, the language that we choose to use can cause difficulties. Joanne Bunting, my colleague from East Belfast, talked about unsustainable cuts. No one disagrees with that, bar one Member in the corner, although the less said about that, the better. The Chief Constable's approach has been different, but he has been in position for almost 12 months now. We have all been aware of these issues for 12 months, and it is interesting that it is only because it has got to this stage that we are now getting a plan together to try to address the funding issue. It is concerning that it has taken so long.

I will, yes.

As you said earlier, those were private meetings, so I do not want to say too much. You are right about how the Policing Board has approached that, but maybe a letter about the business case would have been more prudent than rebuking the Chief Constable for his letter in which he took the opportunity to use his offices. Not only did he write to the Prime Minister, he publicly met the Prime Minister. I commend my colleague from North Down for his maiden speech. I also thank his mother and father: I am very glad that they did not give him that other name as I could not pronounce it.

He referred to his children and told us all about their interests. Maybe some of them should consider being a toolmaker because it seems to be the matter of the day in the Labour Party, and the Prime Minister reminds us of that quite frequently. I was very disappointed by the Member for Upper Bann. He was nearly giving us all a lecture on how public finances work. We are all very aware of the public finances, but dire circumstances do not require dire responses. No one underestimates what your Minister has done to try to address the underfunding in policing, but, clearly, within the constrained finances that the Executive have, it has not worked. I thank the current Chief Constable for making that call because it has brought the debate on the matter to the place where it is today. It has also concentrated minds on whether he or others have missed an opportunity in how they have approached the issue. Now, at least, they have taken the opportunity.

I make no apology for coming straight back at you. It was this party and this party alone that made the call to the British Government for additional funding. Many of you wanted to come back here much sooner with no additional resources.

I can see you shaking your heads, but ours was the only party that said that. We wanted more than we got, and many of you said, "No, let us get back in there. We can fight from the inside, and we will get sustainable government from there". Clearly, that did not work, and I make no apology for reminding the Member of that. The debate has been good hearted. The crux of the matter, and I have heard this across the Chamber, is that we will support the calls for the Chief Constable to get the support that he requires. The Member for Upper Bann Mr Beattie referred to the number of active police officers being as low as 4,500. Many of them are working under real pressures, with so many colleagues off sick or sustaining injuries on duty. It is an awful situation when the Chief Constable has to call for mutual aid from Scotland to help, as he did a few weeks ago, to give officers some time to recharge their batteries and get back out there. One thing that we always forget when we see police officers under so much pressure is that they all have families at home who are worried when they are doing a normal job. However, when those people are working round the clock on long shifts, day after day, we are burning them out. The only way to address that is to get adequate funding. For those reasons and those reasons alone, I will never apologise for supporting the Chief Constable in his efforts to make sure that policing is adequately supported. I look forward to seeing who supports the motion today.

1,290 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:58 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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