JUSTICE Secretary Humza Yousaf has defended the Scottish Government’s funding of Police Scotland and said the UK Government should return the £125 million Police Scotland paid in VAT before the policy was overturned in 2017. This comes after warnings over a “structural deficit” in the force’s budget.
At a Scottish Police Authority (SPA) meeting on Friday, the vice-chair of the oversight body, David Crichton, said that current officer numbers are “not sustainable” and “difficult choices” would have to be made.
Deputy Chief Constable Will Kerr called for increased resources ahead of a busy year. A rise in protests, the Euro 2020 games during the summer, the impact of Brexit and the hosting of COP26 in Glasgow are all expected to place an increased demand on the service.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf: Tories have 'brass neck' to attack SNP over police funding
At the Scottish Parliament yesterday, Yousaf said policing services had been maintained and improved by the Scottish Government.
“The annual budget for policing has increased by more than £80m since 2016-17, bringing that budget to more than £1.2 billion in 2019-20,” Yousaf said. “This includes a £12m increase in capital funding which was focused on the introduction of mobile devices to frontline officers.
“Despite constraints on Scotland’s public services through a decade of UK austerity, the Scottish Government has worked with Police Scotland and the Police Authority to maintain and improve policing services, including providing significantly more officers than at any other time before 2007.
“Current officer numbers stand at 17,256, that is 1022 more officers than we inherited – of course in England and Wales that number has reduced by 20,000.
READ MORE: COP26 security set to cost hundreds of millions of pounds
“Discussions around Scotland’s budget for 2020/21 continue. We will however continue to ensure Scotland’s police service is supported to keep people in communities safe.”
Scottish Conservative MSP Liam Kerr called on Yousaf to back his party’s demands for additional funding of £50m for the police.
Yousaf responded: “The UK Government stole £125m out of policing and you’re asking us to put £50m back in. If [Kerr] really wants to be helpful, he could use that enormous influence that he has with his UK Government colleagues to get them at the stroke of a pen to reverse that decision and give us that £125m back.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel