Exclusive

I want to pay police more but times are tough, PM tells LBC

28 July 2021, 07:11 | Updated: 28 July 2021, 10:27

PM: I want to pay police more but we're facing a tough time

Nick Hardinges

By Nick Hardinges

Boris Johnson has defended the freeze of police officers' pay but admitted in an interview with LBC that the government is "going through a tough time financially" caused by the pandemic.

Speaking exclusively to Nick Ferrari, the prime minister was grilled over the Home Office's decision to freeze the pay of police earning £24,000 or more between this year and 2022. Those earning less than this amount will receive an additional £250.

"You’ll know that any police officer who’s earning above £24,000 per annum gets no pay rise," Nick said.

"Anything below that gets £250 per year. That’s about 60-something pence a day. It’s the cost of a Mars bar. I know we want a thin blue line, but this is ridiculous."

READ MORE: 'Getting jabs will help, not hinder you' as England moves out of lockdown, PM tells LBC

Boris Johnson told LBC he wants to thicken the thin blue line
Boris Johnson told LBC he wants to thicken the thin blue line. Picture: LBC

Mr Johnson replied: "The objective is to thicken the blue line with more officers and that’s what we’re doing."

He added: "No one would want to pay our fantastic police more than I would. We’re just going through a tough time financially for the government and I think most people do understand that.

"I just ask people to recognise that, but also that the government is doing what it can to expand police numbers as fast as we can."

Mr Johnson said: "I understand why people in public services across the country right now want pay to go up and everybody feels that.

"Everybody gets that. I think the difficulty that we have been going through is a massive financial expenditure caused by the pandemic, looking after jobs and families for 18 months now, £407 billion and rising, that we’ve spent on that and it’s, it’s not possible to meet every obligation at once.

"What we are doing is putting a huge amount into policing, £15.8 billion into supporting the police, making sure that we protect police officers from those who would commit crimes of violence against them, those who would attack them, those who would abuse them, putting in new protections for police officers ."

The PM told LBC that one of the best things that can be done to protect officers is to recruit more of them.

Read more: PM to boost police stop and search powers under Beating Crime Plan

Read more: Govt 'looking carefully' at rules for people double-jabbed abroad

'Police need more than words, they need support.'

"I’m a strong believer in officers feeling that they’re not alone. So, we’re halfway towards our 20,000 target that I set on the steps of Downing Street just two years ago," he said.

However, while the Conservative Party has been in power, the number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen by 20,600 between March 2010 and March 2019.

Mr Johnson added that the government is helping the force by giving them "things that they need", such as body-worn cameras, greater ability to use Tasers, more stop and search powers, and protections against disorderly behaviour or assault from the public.

His comments come just a day after he launched his Beating Crime Plan alongside Home Secretary Priti Patel, who just days earlier received a vote of no confidence from the Police Federation of England and Wales.

Suffolk Police Chief Constable welcomes Government focus to drive crime down

Asked whether he believed Ms Patel was the right woman for the job, the prime minister told LBC's Nick Ferrari: "Yes, I have got absolutely every confidence in the home secretary."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Rhiannon Skye Whyte was stabbed to death in Walsall

South Sudanese teen accused of murdering asylum seeker hotel worker with screwdriver 'refuses to appear in court'

Will Guyatt questions who is responsible for the safety of children online

Are Zuckerberg and Musk responsible for looking after my kids online?

Simone White has died following a poisoning with alcoholic drinks at a bar in Loas

British lawyer, 28, dies following suspected mass methanol poisoning at bar in Laos

Russia has claimed that Britain is directly involved in the war in Ukraine

Britain now 'directly involved in war in Ukraine', Russian ambassador to UK says

Finlay MacDonald is accused of trying to murder his wife Rowena

Jealous husband 'murdered brother-in-law and tried to kill wife' after finding text saying she planned to leave him

Teenager jailed for least 22 years after fatally stabbing motorbike enthusiast who named attacker in dying breath

Teenager jailed for at least 22 years after fatally stabbing motorbike enthusiast who named attacker in dying breath

Pie fortune heir Dylan Thomas, 24, has been found guilty of murdering his best friend William Bush (R)

Heir to £230m pie fortune found guilty of murdering his best friend on Christmas Eve

Matt Hancock giving evidence at the Covid 19 inquiry

Matt Hancock says government 'got it wrong' with funeral restrictions and visiting dying relatives during pandemic

Body parts - inlcuding arms, legs and a head - belonging to 38-year-old Sarah Mayhew were found in Rowdown Fields in Croydon

Couple facing life in prison after admitting murdering woman and dumping dismembered body parts

'But where are the hams?': Police launch manhunt after thieves steal €200,000 of prized Christmas meat

Police hunt Spanish hamburglars after thieves steal €200,000 of prized Christmas meat

The new advert was published this week.

Rebranded Jaguar sparks further backlash after teasing new car model akin to ‘Tesla Cybertruck’

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year

Arrest warrants issued for Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister and Hamas chief over 'war crimes'

Matt Hancock giving evidence at the Covid 19 inquiry

Matt Hancock tells Covid inquiry government did 'everything we possibly could' during pandemic

Matt Hancock was booed as he arrived to testify at the Covid-19 inquiry

Matt Hancock booed as he arrives to give evidence at Covid inquiry

Four days of weather alerts are in place for the arrival of Storm Bert

Storm Bert set to bring snow, blizzards and downpours as four days of weather warnings issued

Kyiv says Russia has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile in an attack on Ukraine

Russia's revenge: Moscow 'launches intercontinental ballistic missile’ in attack on Ukraine