On Thursday 5th May millions of people across England and Wales have the chance to elect their local Police and Crime Commissioner.

Over the last three and a half years, they have hired and fired chief constables, set local policing priorities and overseen budgets of hundreds of millions of pounds. With such an important role it is vital that we elect Conservative PCCs in our communities.

Electing a Conservative PCC helps ensure that our streets will be safer, our community will be more secure, and that the money that we pay in taxes will be spent wisely.

Overall, PCCs have presided over a reduction in crime of more than a quarter since their introduction. We have seen an increase in the number of neighbourhood police officers and ensured that more police officers are on the front line. And at the same time as reducing the deficit, we are investing more in counter terrorism and tackling cybercrime.

Our opponents, on the other hand, cannot be trusted to keep our communities safe. Independent PCCs are more interested in using the role to score political points. And the fact that Labour and the Liberal Democrats wanted to scrap PCCs less than a year ago tells you all you need to know about how seriously they take the role.

Best wishes,

Rt Hon. Theresa May MP
Home Secretary