Cleveland Police given extra £2m to tackle serious crime around MiddlesbroughThe Home Secretary made the announcement after Prime Minister Andy Burnham paid tribute to two police officers killed in the line of duty on the A66.Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood arrives for a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)PA WireHarry Taylor5 minutes ago
Cleveland Police is being given an extra £2 million to tackle serious crime, the Home Secretary has announced, after a spate of incidents in and around Middlesbrough.
Shabana Mahmood made the announcement after Prime Minister Andy Burnham paid tribute to two police officers killed in the line of duty on the A66 near Middlesbrough, on Saturday, August 22.
Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, were killed when a Volkswagen Passat – which had been pursued by police – was driven the wrong way along a dual carriageway near Middlesbrough and hit their marked armed response vehicle.
The five young men who died after their vehicle hit a police car on a dual carriageway may have had links to “serious and organised criminal activity”, according to Cleveland Police.
Pcs Tom Clough and Matthew Blades died when a car going in the wrong direction hit a police car on the A66 near Middlesbrough (Handout/PA)PA Media
As MPs returned to Parliament on Tuesday, the Prime Minister told the Commons: “I know the whole House will wish to join me in expressing deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, who were killed in the line of duty on the A66.
“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.”
Making her statement, Ms Mahmood paid tribute to Pc Blades as a “devoted father” and Pc Clough as a “hero” to his family.
She said: “Policing is not just a profession, it is a calling, answered only by those who are willing to place themselves in harm’s way to protect us all.
“Pc Blades and Pc Clough epitomised that courage.”
Ms Mahmood also told the Commons: “I can also announce today that, in light of the situation the force has faced, we will allocate an additional £2 million to Cleveland Police to tackle serious crime in the area.”
Around 200 police officers from outside Cleveland Police have been drafted in to help the force tackle organised crime following the crash on the A66.
The officers were killed when a car going in the wrong direction hit a police car on the A66 near Middlesbrough (Owen Humphreys/PA)PA Wire
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said the two police officers involved in the crash had “made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty” and added their deaths “sent shockwaves through Cleveland Police and the public more widely”.
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He asked Ms Mahmood to “confirm that every request for extra assistance made by Cleveland Police has now been met”.
He also said a £2 million uplift was “clearly wholly inadequate in the circumstances”, pointing to a warning earlier this year by Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey that the force was facing a £2.4 million funding shortfall.
Mr Storey, a Labour Police and Crime Commissioner, said the Government’s funding for the force “completely fails to deliver the resources required to meet the demand faced by Cleveland Police and falls far short of what is needed”.
Responding to Mr Philp, Ms Mahmood said the Conservatives “oversaw the loss of over 200 officers in Cleveland itself” and continued: “It is this Government that is righting those wrongs.
“We have increased funding to policing by £2 billion since being elected and all forces will receive a real-terms uplift in their funding this year as part of an overall £18.5 billion package.
“Funding to Cleveland has increased by £18.3 million since 2024, and that’s a real-terms increase of 4.4% over two years.”
Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East Andy McDonald said a long-term funding settlement was needed for the force as it faced the highest rate of crime per 1,000 people in the country.
Mr McDonald said: “We must confront the reality of crime honestly. The latest figures show around 123 recorded crimes per 1,000 people, across the Cleveland Police Force area. The highest rate of any police force in England and Wales.
“Yet Cleveland has experienced the largest percentage reduction in full-time equivalent officers since 2010, losing around 13% of its officers. Police numbers are not the only factor, but a force facing the highest demand in the country needs the resources to respond.”
Ms Mahmood replied: “We believe that it is important to get on top of the serious and organised crimes issues in the area.
“Of course we will want to make sure that the force has everything they need in order to respond, but more widely I would like to discuss with him how this matter makes the case for wider police system reform so that we can make sure that we have a service that can respond to local need, but that can also at regional level, surge resources into areas that are experiencing particularly high levels of crime as well.”