South Leicestershire Lib Dems call for Winter Fuel Payments to be backdated for local pensioners.
South Leicestershire’s Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to backdate the Winter Fuel Payment for local pensioners who lost out last winter.
Under the Government’s plans, all pensioners earning £35,000 a year or less will now have their Winter Fuel Payments reinstated this winter. However, those who are now eligible but lost out last winter won’t be reimbursed under the Government’s plans.
“I heard countless stories from people here in South Leicestershire who were struggling to make ends meet after this support was stripped away. If the Government has truly ‘listened’ they should be backdating these payments to all those who lost support last winter but will receive it this time around. |
Police taking over 5 hours to respond to burglary calls in Leicestershire and Rutland.
Police in Leicestershire are taking an average of 5 hours to respond to burglary calls, damning new figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.
This is a dramatic 28% increase on response times compared to figures from 2021/22, where it took an average 3 hours to respond to burglaries. Across England, police are taking an average of 9 hours and 8 minutes to show up at the scene when a burglary was reported. This is a 25% increase when compared to the previous year and an 87% increase on burglary response times in 2020/21.
South Leicestershire Liberal Democrats have slammed the Conservative Government for these figures, arguing that years of ineffective resourcing have left local police forces overstretched, under-resourced and unable to effectively respond to local crime.
This includes taking more than 4,500 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) off the streets since 2015.
The party is calling for a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and able to focus on responding to neighbourhood crime like burglaries.
Commenting, Paul Hartshorn Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for South Leicestershire, said:
“Having your home burgled is a traumatic experience, and victims deserve a swift response from the police. Yet thanks to the Conservative Government, this is increasingly out of reach.
“People in Leicestershire deserve to feel safe in their own homes. The fact that traumatised burglary victims are being left waiting for hours, wondering if the police will even arrive, is unacceptable. To think that crucial evidence may be lost in the process too is unforgivable.
“It’s time to finally restore proper community policing, so people can be confident that if they do fall victim to crime, the police will turn up and investigate properly.
“People will ask what our Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner is doing about this? His answer is to spend badly needed funds on blue lamps outside police stations. “