Conservatives waste tens of thousands of pounds on police bureaucracy as crime rises across Hampshire

Just weeks after losing her seat in Parliament, former Conservative MP Flick Drummond was given the taxpayer funded role of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Her £63,750 annual pay packet could pay for three new police officers.

However, just weeks into her new role, Ms Drummond resigned saying "it was not possible [for her] to build a relationship" with her superior, another Conservative.

This expensive fiasco comes at a time when new figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed an 18% rise in crime across Hampshire during the first half of 2017.

In Basingstoke, Brighton Hill saw a 14% rise in crime in the year to August 2017 and the centre of Basingstoke - defined as Brookvale, Eastrop and Grove - experienced a 5% increase.

Cllr Gavin James, who leads the Liberal Democrats on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, said: "This was a scandalous waste of money from the beginning, with the Conservatives giving a gold plated non-job to one of their own.

"We urge the Police and Crime Commissioner to do the right thing and invest the money that was so easily found to give another Conservative a job on much-needed extra police in our area.

"The Conservatives are failing to tackle crime in Hampshire. Government figures show that there were 23,000 more crimes reported across our county during the first half of the year. Sexual related crimes have gone up by more than a quarter. And there are now more than five burglaries across Hampshire every day.

"It's time the Conservatives get a grip on crime and reverse this worrying trend."