Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Conservative Party members he will scrap the anti-racism commitment plan published by the College of Policing and the Police Chiefs’ Council, branding it “absurd”.
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, Mr Philp announced a raft of policies around crime and policing, including a promise to hire 10,000 more police officers who would help to deliver “surge hotspot policing”.
He said: “There is a so-called anti-racism commitment plan published by the College of Policing and the Police Chiefs’ Council that literally says policing should not be colour-blind. Let me be clear: yes, it should.
“Treating racial groups differently to engineer the same arrest rate, even if the offending rates are different, is immoral – plain wrong. People should stand equal before the law. It is that simple.
“Woke nonsense in policing has to end, and, as home secretary, I will scrap that absurd document.”
Mr Philp promised that the extra police officers would prevent 35,000 crimes, and that “surge hotspot policing” would target 2,000 high-crime areas across the country. In the high-crime areas, police would have powers to stop and search without suspicion, and the use of stop and search would triple.
He said: “We commit today to hiring 10,000 extra police officers at a cost of £800m a year, funded by some of the chancellor’s savings announced on Monday. These 10,000 extra police officers will catch more criminals, and they will protect our streets. That is our commitment.
“And we will use some of these extra officers to deliver surge hotspot policing in 2,000 high-crime neighbourhoods around the country. They will deliver 8 million hours of hotspot surge patrolling and prevent 35,000 crimes by doing so.
“Every area where there is a serious crime problem should have intensive hotspot patrolling all year round. That will deter crime and it will catch criminals. So we will mandate this hotspot patrolling.”
Mr Philp told Conservative Party members that stop and search is vital for preventing knife crime, and vowed to triple its use if he becomes home secretary.
He said: “It’s insane that the smell of cannabis alone, or somebody wearing a menacing mask alone, does not generally allow, legally, a stop and search.
“Now in my view, a single suspicion indicator should be enough. So, in our hotspot areas, we will allow routine stop and search without suspicion. Anyone can be searched.
“We will change the law to do this, and we will triple the use of stop and search. Lives will be saved and knives will be taken off our streets. We have the courage to do that. Labour does not.”
The shadow home secretary also pledged to abolish non-crime hate incidents if the Tories get into office.
He said: “It is time to end the madness of police showing up on someone’s doorstep because they have offended someone online. The police should catch real criminals, not off-colour tweets.
“Policing non-criminal social media posts is a catastrophic waste of time, and it tramples on free speech. In government, we would end this nonsense, and we will abolish non-crime hate incidents. So you can tweet away.”
The Conservatives have also promised to ensure “sustained negative net migration” if elected by setting a binding annual cap on immigration, voted on by parliament. Mr Philp said that “the days of mass, low-skill migration have to end”.
He said the Tories would ensure that those who came to the UK to work, but did not work or worked on low wages, would leave when their visa expired.
On the Conservatives’ migration policy, the shadow home secretary said: “Let me say this: the days of mass, low-skill migration have to end. And that is why we will ensure that those who have come already to work, but have then not worked or have only worked on low wages, they must leave when their visa expires.
“And that is why only those who are making a contribution can stay here permanently, and those who are not citizens cannot expect to receive any benefits funded by taxpayers.
“And that is why we will set a binding annual cap on immigration, voted each year by our sovereign parliament, and a Conservative government will set that cap at a low level to ensure that more people leave than arrive.
“And that means we will deliver sustained negative net migration.”
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