Mr Robinson said, “It is always good for the Prime Minister to visit all parts of the United Kingdom and particularly to listen to those like police officers who are on the front-line of serving our community.
The Prime Minister will have heard my calls many times within Parliament for fair and sustainable funding for our essential public services. We cannot continue with funding that falls below the definition of objective need. Those challenges exist across areas like health and education, but they also impact upon policing.
The recent disturbances brought into sharp focus the challenges facing the PSNI. Police officers continue to uphold the law and keep the public safe, but they are doing so against a backdrop of dwindling resources and record low numbers of police officers within the PSNI.
The Chief Constable has talked about being at a “tipping point” in terms of only being able to deliver what the PSNI can afford to do rather than what the public needs. We cannot reverse the neglect of policing budgets across recent years overnight, but it is vital that the Prime Minister recognises that the challenges facing those officers he has met is worsened because of the funding shortfall.
The most meaningful result of this visit would be to ensure the resources are available for the recruitment of more recruits to the PSNI to ensure we can have the service that the people of Northern Ireland deserve.”