Metropolitan Police: Casey Review

Simon Fell Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Suella Braverman]

Even Baroness Casey does not recommend breaking up the Metropolitan police, so I do not support that proposal. The hon. Lady mentions funding, so let me be clear that cash funding for the Met has increased since 2010. The Met gets 57% more funding per capita than the rest of England and Wales, and 24% more than the next highest-funded force, Merseyside, which has a higher level of crime. On all accounts, there is funding for the Met and there should be no reason for a failure to improve.

[Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)]

Baroness Casey’s review makes stark reading: “too little humility”, “denial”, a culture of covering up problems and a lack of emphasis on the issues that matter most to those the Met is meant to serve. That is compounded by, in the report’s words,

“institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia”.

When the Home Affairs Committee has been to meet Sir Mark and his team over recent months, it has been clear that they are working hard to turn around this culture and to root out the officers at the heart of doing so much harm to the public’s view of the force, but the public can wait only so long for this turnaround to happen. Can my right hon. and learned Friend confirm by what time and what metrics she will be looking to see whether the right reforms are taking root?

[Suella Braverman]

The new Met commissioner has been in place for only six months. From the moment he was appointed, he has been clear and unequivocal about the size of the challenge he faces and what it will take to turn it around, which is why he set out in detail his plan to restore trust and raise standards. He now needs all our support to ensure he can achieve that plan as quickly as possible.