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£160m for counter terrorism policing contradiction

A leaked security letter has suggested that the Chancellor exaggerated funding for counter terrorism policing in the Budget, with the £160 million announcement questioned.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said that an additional £160 million would be used to ‘protect CT police numbers and to allow future CT police funding to be considered in the round at the spending review’.

However, a leaked letter from a security official to the chair of the counter-terrorism policing strategic board, seen by the Guardian, said next year’s year-on-year extra funding only amounted to £59 million.

Labour’s policing spokesperson, Louise Haigh, said: “The government have been caught being misleading time and time again on police funding. They’ve slashed budgets for eight years at the expense of public safety and now they’ve been caught red-handed once again massively exaggerating the amount that is actually going into counter-terrorism policing this year. The public and the police deserve better.”

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