Reform’s plan for policing

SCOTLAND’S POLICE are struggling on the ground thanks to a decade of cuts and centralisation, leading to a lack of local presence. Officer numbers have fallen, response times have lengthened, officers are frequently overloaded, and public confidence has been eroded.

Reform UK backs the police to the hilt. We will bring an end to the SNP’s political agendas and ideology, so that officers can get back to the job with the right funding, equipment and infrastructure, confident that Holyrood values their work.

Our economic plan would immediately give police officers more pay in their pocket. Without even accounting for overtime, a Police Constable with five years of service would gain an extra £695 a year in take-home pay, while a newly promoted Sergeant would take home an additional £2,111 a year.

Without the ability to strike, officers’ pay has often been the first to be sacrificed by the SNP, lagging far behind that of other public servants while also having to endure some of the hardest work. Policing is a high-skilled job and we need to ensure that pay reflects that so that we always get and retain the best. So, we would immediately look into increasing police pay across the board.

We will reduce the police workload so that they can concentrate on solving crimes

We will reduce the police workload so that they can concentrate on solving the crimes that matter to people. We will abolish the SNP’s intrusive, ideologically motivated Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, restoring freedom of speech and allowing police to focus on real crime.

We will abolish the Scottish Sentencing Council, restoring direct democratic oversight of sentencing by ministers.

We will introduce high prison sentences for repeat offenders. Sentencing is often framed as a balance between retribution and rehabilitation, but the core priority must always be public safety. The vast majority of crime is committed by just a handful of prolific repeat offenders: it is high time that they are taken off our streets. The police will also prioritise the shop-lifting epidemic.

We will increase prison capacity, to end the SNP’s reckless and dangerous policy of early release. This will unclog the justice system as a whole, allowing us to also reduce backlogs in the court system so that justice is always quick.

We will ensure the independence of the grooming gangs inquiry in Scotland.