Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews has written to newly appointed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood calling for urgency in addressing the ongoing issue of police funding.
The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland PCC previously contacted her predecessor, Yvette Cooper, to highlight Leicestershire Police’s position as the seventh lowest-funded force in England and Wales and the challenges it faces policing a population that has spiralled since the last consensus.
In his latest letter, Mr Matthews congratulated the Home Secretary on her new role and drew attention to his previous lobbying activity to the Department, raising ongoing concerns about the fairness of the police funding formula and the impact of rising demand on the force.
Mr Matthews also highlighted data revealing 18% of the prison population of England and Wales is forecast to be in the East Midlands by 2026, which he insisted supported his argument that the force needed to be properly funded to accommodate the overrepresentation of the nation’s prison population.
The Commissioner said he wholeheartedly backed the Home Secretary’s commitment to removing foreign national offenders from the country in her previous role as Lord Chancellor and said he looked forward to seeing her delivering on this commitment.
“Removing foreign national offenders from our prisons immediately, rather than waiting for them to have served 48 months of their sentence or 30% of their custodial sentence in our prisons, is common sense,” he said.
“It is also my view that they can serve their sentences in full in their country of origin. Given the small boats crisis and this nation’s seeming inability to manage its border, I would ask you and your department to commit to ensuring that every prisoner’s biometric data is taken whilst they are still a prisoner in the United Kingdom.”
Mr Matthews said if this was to be the case, it would ensure that all criminals are captured on the police national database, aiding future investigations for police forces across the country.
In other points raised, Mr Matthews asked Ms Mahmood to consider providing the force area with a larger chunk of the £700m earmarked for Probation following the ‘inadequate’ rating given to the Probation Service in the East Midlands in August.
“Without extra funding and resource into Probation, re-offending will increase and then yet more pressure will be placed on our police services,” he said.
“Our police officers are doing an incredible job but with more pressures on them than ever before. They need more support.”
Mr Matthews also spoke of his concern about the cost of implementing the 2024 XL Bully Legislation which is projected to reach £800k locally by the end of this financial year.
The PCC recently met with former Home Office Parliamentary Under-Secretary Seema Malhotra MP in Leicester City to showcase the work achieved under the Government’s Safer Summer Streets Initiative (SSI).
Mr Matthews said the MP had noted the enthusiastic and proactive work that is being done in Leicestershire and spoke of his support for a continuation of the activity with additional funding.
In conclusion, the PCC invited the Home Secretary to meet to discuss some of his concerns in more detail.
Ends
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Posted on Friday 19th September 2025