The famous quote from Lady Thatcher that "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money" was proved to be glaringly true when I took over as Police and Crime Commissioner from my Labour predecessor.
When I took over, the combined Police and Office of the PCC budgets were overspending by an impressive amount. My Labour predecessor had been covering the difference by spending the reserves established by his Conservative predecessor, Sir Clive Loader. In his final months in office, my Labour predecessor made additional spending commitments which would have burned through the reserves even more quickly. As things stood when I first looked at the financial books on taking control, the reserves would have been fully spent within just two years.
And the budget would have shown an annual deficit of £11 million!
If that situation had been allowed to continue there would have had to be drastic and damaging cuts in this financial year. So much for prudent financial planning by Labour!
I viewed such spending plans as being reckless. Within weeks, I was taking measures to reduce the need to spend reserves. This involved both reducing expenditure and raising taxation. Nobody likes doing either, but I judged it preferable to watching the Leicestershire Police go bankrupt.
I am delighted to confirm that the finances of the Leicestershire Police are now on a sound footing. As we enter the next budget setting process for the financial year 2023/24 I will continue to exercise a cautious approach to the budget of the Leicestershire Police and my own office.
Photo : By Bank of England - Original publication: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/polymer-50-pound-noteImmediate source: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/images/banknotes/50/polymer…, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67883975
