Four-fifths of Britons say that the country’s streets are less safe following cuts to police force spending, according to a new survey.
Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed said that damage was caused by sweeping cuts enforced during a near-decade of austerity driven by the Conservatives.
In what seems to be a bad omen for Prime Minister Theresa May, an even greater majority of Tory voters believed that the reductions have had a negative effect, potentially undercutting the Conservatives’ traditional claim to be a party which abides by the law, shows the data from BMG Research.
In their 2017 manifesto, the Conservatives tried to show it was the party of law and order by pledging to “help Britain’s world-leading police forces and prosecutorial services to fight crime.”
According to the survey, conducted for The Independent, seventy-eight percent said the cuts did have a bad effect, while just seven percent had an opposite view,…