Prime Minister visits Reading

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told police chiefs to put more officers on the beat during a key speech in Reading this morning.

He told a gathering at the Town Hall that he wants neighbourhood PCs on patrol 80 per cent of the time and urged the force not to cut budgets for front-line law enforcement.

He said: “I know how important our police are to people, and so there will be no reason based on central government funding why police or PCSO numbers should fall.

“But police funding in this country has always and rightly been part national, part local.

“So my challenge to local authorities and police authorities is to match our commitment to protecting front-line policing - or else explain to their communities why they are not prepared to do so.”

His visit included a walkabout in the town centre in a bid to address the public’s concerns about law and order.