Speaking from Westminster, Gavin Robinson said:
“Our community in Northern Ireland requires effective policing to keep the entire community safe, and to successfully combat crime in whatever form it manifests itself.
Yet what we are witnessing is increasing pressures on neighbourhood policing and crime investigations, and on rank-and-file PSNI officers.
The Chief Constable recently wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to provide an uplift in the budget available to deliver his plan for better policing in Northern Ireland. This was not the action of someone seeking to make headlines, but the action of a Chief Constable committed to ensuring the PSNI is equipped to fulfil its statutory obligations to protect life and property, preserve law and order and prevent the commission of offences. Importantly, we must also ensure the PSNI has the wherewithal to continue to combat the threat from those dissident republicans who still desire to inflict terror on our community.
Whilst it is deeply disturbing that the Justice Minister sought to undermine this legitimate request, the Democratic Unionist Party supports the Chief Constable and today in the House of Commons I urged the Prime Minister to step up with a funding package for the PSNI that helps alleviate the pressures currently faced.
Chronic underfunding of policing, and indeed the wider delivery of public services in Northern Ireland, must be addressed and we will continue to press the Government to address these challenges. We urge others to stand with us and endorse, not undermine, that message.”