Police get £2m after spate of crimes follows fatal crash

A police force is being given an extra £2m after a spate of crimes followed the death of two police officers and five men in a head-on crash, the home secretary has announced.

Shabana Mahmood pledged the funding after Prime Minister Andy Burnham paid tribute to the officers killed, and in light of the challenges faced by Cleveland Police following the seven deaths on the A66 near Middlesbrough on 22 August.

PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough died when a Volkswagen Passat going the wrong way on the A66 at South Bank hit their vehicle. The five men in the Volkswagen also died.

The force has since arrested 27 people for activities linked to "serious and organised crime".

About 200 police officers from outside Cleveland Police have been drafted in to help the force tackle organised crime following the crash.

In the days following the deaths, police dealt with a series of incidents including homes being rammed and vehicles set on fire at a vigil.

Mahmood said "lawlessness of any kind" would "never be tolerated".

"In light of the situation the force has faced, we will allocate an additional £2m to Cleveland Police to tackle serious crime in the area," she said.

She paid tribute to the two officers who died in the A66 crash and said she recognised how "unnerving" the current climate would be for the "law abiding citizens" in the community.

She said: "We will do our best to support the Middlesbrough community, which is hurting and grieving right now, and we hear the call from the members of this house representing it for a discussion about investment in policing and police numbers."

Conservative MP Chris Philp told Mahmood the extra £2m pledged was "wholly inadequate" and said he was concerned about a shortfall in funding for the force in general.

He said: "This lawless gang chaos should never have been allowed to take root in the first place."

Commenting following the announcement, Cleveland's Labour Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Matt Storey said a "one-off payment" was "not a solution".

He said: "It does nothing to address the chronic underfunding that has disadvantaged policing in Cleveland for years."

He called on the government to act to address "deep-rooted funding inequalities".

"Cleveland Police needs at least an additional £20m every year to recruit and retain 200 more police officers, to strengthen efforts to crack down on serious and organised crime."

Speaking in the Commons, Mahmood said she was committed to reviewing the funding formula, which is used to determine the funding that each force is given.

She added the previous government had taken away 20,000 police officers from forces nationally.

The Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, Andy McDonald, told Mahmood that Cleveland Police had the highest rate of crime for any police force in England and Wales.

He said the latest figures showed about 123 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents, yet the force had received the "largest percentage reduction" in officers since 2010.

"Police numbers are not the only factor, but a force facing the highest demand in the country needs the resources to respond," he said.

He added the £2m would address some of the extra funding needed but he wanted to discuss how funding shortfalls could "urgently and permanently be corrected".

Mahmood said she would be happy to meet with MPs in the area to discuss the issue and wider funding concerns.

Luke Myer, Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland,also called for the government to review how funding was assigned.

Mahmood said "reviewing and reforming" the formula was "absolutely critical" and said she would be updating MPs on a schedule for changes to be discussed, once an independent review on police force structures had been completed.

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