Ceredigion’s Welsh Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams has secured a debate at Westminster on changes to the police funding formula, which could leave Welsh forces with a shortfall of millions of pounds.
In the Policing Green Paper of last year, the Government indicated their intention to implement the funding formula in full, which Dyfed-Powys Police have warned would cost them £6 million from their budget. The predicted shortfall for the four Welsh forces’ budgets is £15 million.
There are also concerns about the future of the Rural Policing Grant, which could see up to 50% of the current £2.6 million of funding to Dyfed-Powys lost.
Mark Williams said: “The police have raised concerns about the proposed changes and I will be urging the Minister to rethink these plans.
“Dyfed-Powys has been one of the top performing forces in the last few years, and they have done everything and more that the Government have told them to do in finding efficiency savings.
“The loss of the funding floor would leave Welsh forces in an extremely difficult position, and there is certainly a fear from Dyfed-Powys that they would have no choice but to cut frontline policing.
“There are unique challenges in policing a sparsely-populated rural area, and Dyfed-Powys need the resources to continue doing this job.”
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