One of the things that brought me into politics is a belief in the importance of law and order.
I'm pleased that the Government are now recruiting an extra 20,000 police officers. There are now 332 more police officers in Leicestershire alone than there were four years ago. Overall crime is down by a third since 2019, and by more than 50pc since 2010. Crime is still to high though, and I am pushing for tougher sentences for prolific criminals.
As well as fighting crime, I know we need to deal with the underlying causes of crime: particularly drug addiction. We invested £780 million into expanding drug treatment, and now more addicts are getting treatment.
I am in regular contact with both the police locally, and Leicestershire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Rupert Matthews, and when there are particular issues locally, I have pressed for special police operations and organised meetings for local residents to raise their concerns with the police directly.
