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Demand for answers over PM’s plans to deploy troops

Demand for answers over PM's plans to deploy troops

Demand for answers over PM’s plans to deploy troops

The Prime Minister is facing demands from Labour to explain how he proposes to use the Army in enforcing the new coronavirus lockdown rules.

Unveiling a raft of measures to try and contain the growing second wave of Covid-19, Boris Johnson said the government would also make more resources available to the police.

Speaking to MPs he said: “We will provide the police and local authorities with the extra funding they need,  a greater police presence on our streets.

“And the option to draw on military support where required to free up the police.”

And later in his dramatic TV address to the nation, the Prime Minister said: “We will put more police out on the streets and use the army to backfill if necessary.”

Ahead of today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds has now written to Home Secretary Priti Patel, demanding answers about Mr Johnson’s plan to use the Army, Sky News is reporting.

It says shadow home secretary Mr Thomas-Symonds has written to Ms Patel calling for an explanation about what duties the military will carry out, whether they will face the public, and how much their role will cost.

“The fact that military may be needed to support policing functions shows the extraordinary pressure that policing has been put under, as a result of the thousands of officers lost under this government,” he wrote.

A No.10 spokesman said: “To further free up the police to have a greater presence on our streets they will have the option to draw on military support, where required, using tried and tested mechanisms.

“This would involve the military backfilling certain duties, such as office roles and guarding protected sites, so police officers can be out enforcing the virus response.

“This is not about providing any additional powers to the military, or them replacing the police in enforcement roles, and they will not be handing out fines. It is about freeing up more police officers.”

The armed forces have been used throughout the crisis to help efforts to contain the virus, in roles from setting up Nightingale hospitals to delivering PPE.

Photo: Forces.net

 

 

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