The Government not Council Tax payers should fund our Police

Last night, at the Police and Crime Panel, Bedford Borough Liberal Democrat Police spokesperson Councillor Sarah Gallagher repeated her calls that the Government should be properly funding our local police.

Bedfordshire Police are woefully underfunded compared to other forces and the Police Crime Commissioners answer is to increase the Council Tax precept by a whopping 13.5%.

Sarah said "We were told there would be an additional £8million of funding for 2019/20, but only £2.5million of this is actually coming from the government and the Police Commissioner wants to raise the remaining £5.5.million from Council Taxpayers. The Liberal Democrats believe the Government should fund our police properly and not expect local residents to do so through Council Tax."

The Liberal Democrats are campaigning for an additional £300million for policing across the country, if you agree you can sign the petition: