After 13 years of Conservative governments, over 90% of crimes are going  unsolved. That means far more criminals being let off and far more victims being let down. Unless the government gets a grip of the serious challenges facing forces across the country, they risk taking policing by consent to the brink.

I meet so many excellent police officers and PCSOs who are desperately frustrated that they can’t do the job they joined the force to do. UK Government inaction has taken its toll.

Labour believes that we deserve the very highest standards of policing. Its why we will introduce mandatory national standards for all police forces.

We’ll also deliver 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs, paid for by merging procurement of IT, cars and other equipment for the 43 separate police forces. And we will introduce a new Neighbourhood Police Guarantee, guaranteeing a minimum number of patrols in local communities.

Labour’s new Charging Commission, chaired by the former Victims’ Commissioner, Dame Vera Baird, will identify the reasons for the decline in successful enforcement between the police and the CPS, and develop credible proposals to turn things around.