Top officer warns cuts to armed police guarding Britain’s nuclear weapons could be "catastrophic" for national security
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Crippling cuts to armed police guarding Britain’s nuclear arsenal could be “catastrophic” and “harm national security,” a leading officer will warn.
The MoD Police which guards key MoD assets including Trident, is to make the cuts to achieve a £12.5million saving the Defence Police Federation says.
Eamonn Keating, the national chairman of the DPF - which represents MoD police officers, says the move puts financial savings over complexes like Trident .
The force, whose officers are firearms trained, is understaffed with around 2,300 officers when it should have around 2,600, according to the DPF.
(Photo: PA)
Mr Keating will tell the federation’s annual conference: “After a decade of budget and personnel cuts, it beggars belief the MoD would demand a further £12.5million from the police force entrusted with guarding Trident .
“And it’s simply unacceptable for the MoD Police leadership to find this saving by shifting the goalposts and imposing a real-terms cut in our number of officers.
“We need to be very clear that, at a time of significant threat, this represents a reduction in the country’s armed policing capacity and is damaging to public safety and national security.
“This ‘reset’ is an ill-considered decision that prioritises cost over security, and makes no sense given the financial value of the assets we protect.”
Mr Keating will warn there are fewer armed officers available for deployment in the event of a national incident as part of Operation Temperer - enacted just last month in the wake of the Manchester bombing.
(Photo: PA)
(Photo: PA)
The MDP boasted around 2,600 officers a year ago, but the workforce had already been reduced by a third due to budget cuts in 2010.
The federation will also call on the Government to provide further details on plans in the recent Conservative election manifesto for an “Infrastructure Policing Force” to be created through a merger of the MDP, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and British Transport Police.
Mr Keating will add: “The Government must urgently rethink this catastrophic decision that further undermines police officers hamstrung by fitness tests inappropriate to the job they do, and a pension age different to the Home Office and Armed Forces.”
(Photo: PA)
The two-day conference is taking place at Stansted Airport in Essex.
An MoD spokesman said: “We are confident that the strength of our force keeps our people, sites and equipment safe.
“It also enables us to play our part in protecting the public, as we did when we supported Operation Temperer following the tragic events in Manchester last month.”