SCRAP ID CARDS AND PUT MORE POLICE ON OUR STREETS - STUNELL

11.01.00am GMT Mon 8th Feb 2010

Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell today called for ID Cards to be scrapped, and for more police to be put on the beat instead, as he outlined the Lib Dems' plans for policing in Greater Manchester.

The Liberal Democrat plans include:

• Recruiting 3,000 more police officers across the country, including 155 extra officers based in Greater Manchester.

• Scrapping ID cards - which are already being trialled in Greater Manchester - to pay for the increase in police numbers.

• Ensuring there are annual fitness tests for all police officers to make sure they are physically up to the job.

• Cutting back on paperwork and red-tape.

Under the Lib Dem proposals, the additional police officers would see Greater Manchester Police make an extra an extra 1,500 arrests, and solve an extra 1,300 crimes if the new recruits performed to current levels.

Commenting on the proposals, Andrew Stunell said:

"People in my own area of Stockport, and throughout the region, are often telling me how they feel unsafe.

"Expensive ID Cards aren't going to change that, but an extra officer or two walking down the street, or more police in Stockport town centre, or central Manchester on a Friday night will.

"We also want to see red-tape and bureaucracy cut down for local bobbies, so they spend less time at the station filling in forms, and more time on the streets catching criminals.

"More police officers are the only way to create safer streets, and the Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to providing them."

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:

"The Liberal Democrats are the only party that wants to cut crime by putting more police on the street.

"When only one in a hundred crimes ends up with a conviction in court, it is time for things to change.

"Labour and the Conservatives may talk tough but they are unwilling to make the crucial decisions to cut crime."

ENDS