Brighton & Hove Labour Councillors will be urging the City Council to lobby the Tory-led Government, at a Town Hall meeting next week, following news that Sussex Police will lose 500 police officers as a result of the Government’s cuts to frontline Police Funding.

In addition, Labour will be voicing fears over the future of Hove Police Station and calling for the Council to work with Sussex Police to continue providing local services for the residents of Hove and Portslade, if the Holland Road office is shut.

Labour have been active in campaigning against both local and national police cuts and against closing Hove and Portslade’s only Police Station. A 500-strong local petition against the closure of Holland Road has been running since January.

Brighton & Hove Labour Lead on Community Safety, Councillor Warren Morgan, said:

“By imposing cuts of this speed and scale the government has put Sussex Police in an impossible position. The Tory Home Secretary has repeatedly ignored warnings that this could mean around 28,000 fewer police officers across the country. Now, whilst bankers’ multi-million pound bonuses go unchecked by David Cameron, a government-commissioned report recommends freezing police bonuses. They have got their priorities wrong.

“These are reckless cuts to our police service which will hit Brighton & Hove hard. They will undermine all the progress we have made to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in our local neighbourhoods and communities.”

Melanie Davis, Lead Petitioner for ‘Hove and Portslade Must Have a Police Station’ and Labour Councillor for Goldsmid ward, which covers Hove Police Station, said:

“Before the General Election, David Cameron said, ‘If ministers come to me with cuts in frontline services, they will be sent away’.

“We were told there would be no cuts to front line services and now we are seeing the reality of frontline cuts by this Tory-led Government. They are slashing police numbers and putting the future of local police stations at risk. Hove must have its own police station.”