Manchester Withington MP Jeff Smith has called on the Government to increase funding for Greater Manchester Police after 250 officers from the city region were called on to police the visit to the UK of US President Donald Trump.

Last week it was revealed that the Government requested 400 officers from Greater Manchester Police to help with the policing effort at the time of the President’s visit, but the GMP command team pushed back due to existing strains on the system.

To cope with the deployment, officers have seen their days off cancelled as the over-stretched force could not spare officers already on the frontline in Manchester.

Questioning the Policing Minister Nick Hurd, Jeff said:

“The Greater Manchester force has lost 2,000 officers since 2010, and it is clear from my case load that it is already struggling to cope with the workload.

Now 250 of the remaining officers are being called in to police the Trump visit. Does the Minister accept that if the Government are going to rely on calling in officers from local forces, they should fully reinstate the funding for Greater Manchester police and other local forces so that they have enough officers to cope?”

Commenting afterwards, Jeff said:

“My constituents in Manchester will be frustrated to learn that not only has this Government rolled out the red carpet for a President with a complete disregard for human rights, but that his visit will take officers away from Greater Manchester Police.

Our police force is stretched to breaking point after 8 years of cuts from successive Tory and Lib Dem Governments. To ask them to cancel holidays to police President Trump’s visit with no promise of increased funding is outrageous.”