Andrew Dismore

Under Boris Johnson, the Conservatives cut 26 fire engines and 1,172 firefighters from London Fire Brigade. They closed fire stations, including Belsize and Clerkenwell. Attendance times in Camden were the worst affected in London. The Brigade took 13 minutes to answer a fatal fire call last October.  In March, a house neighbouring  closed Belsize was almost destroyed by fire.

They’ve cut a staggering £600 million from the Met., with  £400m  more cuts to come. Under the Conservatives,  Camden Police will be merged with Islington  so we’ll no longer have our own borough police.

The Conservatives  wasted money on useless water cannon instead of paying for police officers.  In  Camden alone, the Conservatives axed 231 officers and 93 PCSOs- 32% of our force compared to  2010.

They closed Hampstead, West Hampstead  and Albany Street Police Stations. They abolished Labour’s successful Safer Neighbourhood Teams,  weakening our ability to tackle crime and breaking the ‘golden thread’ of local intelligence gathering, vital in the fight against  terrorism.

Once their cuts started to bite, crime began to rise.  Camden crime is up 10% year on year.  Violent crime is up 23% and gang offences 51% up.

That’s why I back Labour’s Sadiq Khan’s  top priority plan to review the Fire Brigade’s funding to ensure it’s fully equipped for the future; to restore real neighbourhood policing; to stand up for crime victims; to root out extremism. And to have zero tolerance towards anti-Semitic , Islamophobic,   homophobic  and all other hate crime.

Andrew Dismore

Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden