Labour promises boost to local police patrols

Labour says it will bring in new laws to boost local police patrols if it wins the next election.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said her party would recruit 13,000 more neighbourhood police, with a named officer for every community.

She said the plans would be underpinned by new legislation to guarantee more community patrols to tackle anti-social behaviour and crime.

But the government accused Labour of being "soft on crime".

Ms Cooper described neighbourhood officers as "the eyes and ears" in local communities.

She told the BBC: "Too often neighbourhood policing has been seen as a Cinderella service in many forces - always the one that gets squeezed or cut back if there are budget cuts or if there are pressures elsewhere."

It said this would cost £360m, paid for through efficiency savings from forces sharing services.

As well as recruiting more officers, the party said it would also introduce new laws to enforce higher standards of vetting and training for police officers.

Ms Cooper will set out more details of what the party is calling "a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee" in a speech at the Institute for Government on Thursday.

In her speech, she will accuse the Conservatives of a "laissez-faire approach to crime and policing", saying the government has failed to take action on areas such as knife crime, drug dealing and anti-social behaviour.

"Labour is the party of law and order," she will say.

The government said it was on track to deliver on its promise to recruit 20,000 new police officers in England and Wales by April.

Policing Minister Chris Philp said: "Labour voted against boosting police funding, voted against tougher sentences, including for violent sexual offenders, and they oppose deporting foreign national offenders - they are weak on crime, weak on criminals, and they cannot be trusted to keep our communities safe."