Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 26 April 1999.
As the Minister knows, we support more recruitment from ethnic minorities. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) said, there have already been reductions in the strength of police forces throughout the country. Will the Minister admit what chief constables, the Police Federation and police authorities say—that further cuts in the service are inevitable over the next two or three years on current policy? Are not such cuts against the public interest?