She accused the police of "scaremongering" when they tried to warn her

As Home Secretary Theresa May oversaw the longest and deepest cuts to per capita policing levels in British history. She slashed the number of police by 19,000 whilst allowing the biggest immigration surge in British history.

This combination of factors means there are now fewer bobbies per head of population than at any time since 1974.

This reckless assault on the police service was inspired by the Tory ideological obsession with hard-right austerity dogma: The demented economic delusion that the economy can be saved simply by cutting, and cutting and cutting.

Stuff like infrastructure investment, productivity, economic demand, social welfare, flood defences, art and culture, and perhaps most recklessly of all, public safety were all thrown on the Tory ideological austerity bonfire.

Of course the police chiefs complained and warned that they were getting stretched beyond their capacities, but Theresa May fobbed them off. In one sneering and condescending speech she accused police chiefs of "scaremongering" over her ideologically inspired cuts to the public safety budget.

Just look at the frightful leer she does at the end of this clip:

Well this sneering & condescending speech looks even fucking worse now doesn't it? pic.twitter.com/5iyrBJ5Fnx

— Another Angry Voice (@Angry_Voice) May 25, 2017

Now that we've got the army deployed on the streets because the pared-back police apparently can't cope with the security situation, I'm pretty sure that there are few who would be willing to argue that this speech has aged well.

One police delegate at that conference said that "Officers feel that they are under sustained attack from the media, the government and additionally the Home Office. At times, our only allies are the public that we serve" [source]

Slashing the police budget, sacking 19,000 police officers, repressing their wages, privatising the forensic science service, publicly lambasting the police chiefs, demoralising the police.rank and file. It was all necessary in Theresa May's warped austerity dogma-addled mind. If the first video isn't bad enough, just take a look at this one where she dismisses the threat of terrorism as secondary to the Tory ideological austerity agenda by debt-fearmongering about Portugal.

Here's Theresa May debt-fearmongering in order to argue that Tory ideological austerity is more important than public safety! pic.twitter.com/KSdvAPnKKG

— Another Angry Voice (@Angry_Voice) May 25, 2017

She accused the police of scaremongering in the first video over their legitimate concerns, and in the second video she can be seen blatantly austerity-scaremongering to justify her ideologically driven cuts.

It's funny how legitimate concerns are "scaremongering" but delusional austerity fearmongering to justify public safety cuts is perfectly fine in the backwards world of Tory propaganda isn't it?

She was warned and warned and warned

Theresa May was warned time and again that her austerity cuts to the police were endangering public safety but she simply wouldn't listen.

The now-departed Chief of the Metropolitan Police Bernard Hogan-Howe repeatedly warned her. In 2015 he said that slashing 8,000 police in London would put the capital at risk. Shortly before retiring in February 2017 he argued once again that the Tory police cuts were endangering the public.

Now that we have the army deployed in the streets we should all understand that Theresa May's obsession with economically illiterate austerity has severely hampered our ability to protect public safety.

She was warned time and again of the danger, but she ignored it, and even accused the public safety experts of "scaremongering" for daring to raise their concerns.

The really sad thing is that millions of political sleepwalkers will ignore the evidence and glowingly approve of troops yomping the union flag around the streets and Theresa May and Amber Rudd strutting around importantly in the wake of the Manchester Arena atrocity pretending to be the ones who are protecting us, rather than the ones who trashed the public safety budget out of their deranged obsession with their economically illiterate hard-right austerity dogma.

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