The police must do better, not more

Writing in The Telegraph on Monday, two prominent officers lamented the current state of policing in Britain. Nick Smart, president of the Police Superintendents' Association, and Tiff Lynch, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said morale had been crushed by a broken system.
'The service is in crisis,' they wrote. Pay was too low, work was too hard and the police are facing further real terms cuts in spending when the Chancellor makes her dispositions known today.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, was reportedly battling with the Treasury until the 11th hour trying to get more money for policing but failed. She has been under pressure from senior officers for weeks to get a better deal.
They said there may have been more money and more officers but these trends had not kept pace with the rise in the population. Yet overall per-capita police numbers are now close to record levels. We used to have far fewer police officers and yet they were far more visible.
Their presence on the streets was designed to fulfil Robert Peel's first principle of policing, which is to keep order and prevent crime.
Police chiefs maintain that they direct scarce resources where they are most needed and yet this is impossible to square with stories of half a dozen officers being sent to arrest someone for sending an injudicious tweet to a school website.
A news report just this week is emblematic of the problem: the couple who went to reclaim their own stolen car because the police refused to do anything about it. There have been many cases of bikes put up for sale by thieves and owners having to recover their property because the police were not interested.
Our politicians must share the blame for loading the police with tasks they never used to have by passing laws that require any complaint of hurt feelings, however minor or vindictively made, to be investigated. But the police seem content to prioritise these non-crimes over real ones like burglary, thefts of mobile phones or shoplifting.
The problem the police have when demanding more money is that the public no longer feels they make the right choices with the resources they have. Nowadays, they are less a force for law and order than a glorified community service, expected to deal with society's ills rather than crime. As a matter of urgency, they need to forge a new social contract with the people they serve.

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Bank of England's Bailey defends bond programme after Reform UK criticism

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Telegraph

an hour ago

• Telegraph

The flat tax regimes that inspired Farage's plan to lure back rich non-doms

Nigel Farage is hoping an Italian-style flat tax regime will lure wealthy foreigners to Britain's shores. The leader of the Reform UK party has promised to impose a Robin Hood-style levy on rich non-doms, with the proceeds then redistributed among the lowest-paid workers. At first glance the policy may seem Left-wing, but in practice it is the wealthiest non-doms who would benefit the most from this generous scheme. The one-off payment would grant them a 'Britannia Card' which comes with an indefinite tax-free exemption on their offshore income and gains. It could potentially save a high-income worker tens of thousands in tax over the years. Reform said the tax status could be renewed every decade at no extra cost. The proposal comes amid fears that Rachel Reeves's decision to abolish the non-dom regime last August has triggered an exodus of high-income workers and entrepreneurs. Estate agent Knight Frank has estimated that the Treasury faces a £401m loss in stamp duty receipts thanks to a drop in sales of multimillion-pound homes since the reforms were first announced. The non-dom regime was replaced in April 2025 by the Chancellor's foreign income and gains regime, which allows new arrivals to avoid tax on offshore earnings for only their first four years of residence. Controversially, it also applies inheritance tax to the worldwide assets of individuals who have been in the country for over 10 years. By comparison, Mr Farage's proposal would shield eligible individuals from inheritance tax for 20 years. Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Farage said the policy would 'actively encourage the return of wealth and talent to the United Kingdom'. However, experts questioned how successful it would be in practice. The think tank Tax Policy Associates warned it could cost the UK £34bn in lost Government revenue. Miles Dean, of tax adviser Andersen, said: 'I fear that the damage has already been done and I doubt that this alone is enough to entice wealthy non-doms back, especially given that implementation is at least four years away.' David Denton, of wealth manager Quilter, said: 'Offering wealthy non-doms the chance to effectively buy their way out of UK tax may provide a short-term revenue boost, but risks creating a two-tier tax system that undermines public confidence.' Mr Denton also said there was no guarantee the regime would attract enough wealthy individuals to build a sizable pot for low-income workers. 'The idea of redirecting funds to support lower earners has populist appeal, yet it assumes significant and sustained uptake from globally mobile individuals – something far from guaranteed, particularly if future governments reverse course.' But the flat tax regime is far from a new concept. Other countries including Italy and Switzerland have also tried to entice wealthy expats through similar tax breaks. Italy Reform's offer to non-doms appears to be considerably more generous than Italy's, which first unveiled a flat tax regime for wealthy foreigners in 2017. Costing €200,000 (£171,390) per year, the scheme is renewable for 15 years and exempts non-doms from tax on foreign assets, with the option to add additional family members for €25,000 (£21,423) per person per year. It has proven to be a runaway success. While just 98 people used the scheme in 2017, by 2023 more than 2,000 taxpayers were enroled, according to citizenship by investment firm Relocate&Save. Mr Farage will give high-net-worth individuals a 20-year reprieve from UK tax, including inheritance tax, on worldwide assets and income for a one-off cost of £250,000. By comparison, to use the Italian scheme for 15 years would cost €3m in flat tax fees, making Reform's plan extremely competitive. 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To use the scheme, the high-net-worth individual must invest at least €500,000 in Greece within three years, for example by purchasing a property or buying shares. Gibraltar The British Overseas Territory, located on the southern coast of Spain, offers an attractive tax regime for individuals worth more than £2m. Under the so-called 'Category 2' rules, qualifying individuals only pay tax on the first £118,000 of their worldwide income. This means a maximum tax charge of about £45,000 per year. To qualify, individuals must either own or rent a property in Gibraltar.

The Independent

an hour ago

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Two men charged with historic sex offences at Welsh children's centre

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