The MP for Chipping Barnet, Theresa Villiers , brought up the comparitive shortage of police numbers in Barnet in Prime Minister's Questions on 7 December.   We applaud her efforts to highlight the problems of crime and antisocial behaviour in Barnet.  Here's what she said:

"Crime and antisocial behaviour are undermining the quality of life of many of my constituents. In Barnet, we have fewer police officers per head than many other London boroughs that have far lower levels of crime. When are the Government going to give Barnet its fair share of police officers on the beat to tackle crime?"

in response the Prime Minister, Tony Blair responded

"If the hon. Lady wanted to be fair, in this new spirit of debate, she would accept that we now have record numbers of police officers, including in Barnet, just as we have record levels of investment in education and health. We have been able to put this extra money in as a result of the strong economy, and because we have chosen to put investment before tax cuts we have managed to keep that investment going. If the hon. Lady supports our policies over the next few years, I am sure that, in Barnet and elsewhere, we will get the numbers of people we need, in terms of a visible uniformed presence on the streets, and the legislative measures that we need to make a real difference to crime in her area. If she is signalling that our investment and antisocial behaviour plans will be supported by those on the Conservative Back Benches, I am delighted at yet another outburst of consensus."

We leave you to draw your own conclusions from the PMs general answer, however we would encourage our members to write to their local MPs to do more to help our local Police force, reduce crime further.