James Cleverly on police officer numbers, PMQs 8 July 2026
The statement
He talks about getting over the detail, but here is a simple detail for him: when I was Home Secretary, we had more police officers than at any point in British history. Since Labour taking over, that number has dropped by over 2,000 officers.
James Cleverly, 8 July 2026. Source
What the sources report
- Home Office, Police workforce, England and Wales, table H3 (March 2026 release) reports police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (31 March 2010): 143734officers (FTE)src
- Home Office, Police workforce, England and Wales, table H3 (March 2026 release) reports police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (31 March 2024): 147745officers (FTE)src
- Home Office, Police workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2025 release reports police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (30 September 2025): 145550officers (FTE)src
- Home Office, Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2026 release reports police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (31 March 2026, latest): 145886officers (FTE)src
Notes
Home Office table H3 shows 147,745 full-time equivalent officers at 31 March 2024, the highest figure in the table, which starts in 2003. Older series on a different basis are not included here.
The Home Office reports 145,550 at 30 September 2025 and 145,886 at 31 March 2026.
Each figure's own page, with every change: Police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (30 September 2025), Police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (31 March 2026, latest), Police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (31 March 2010), Police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (31 March 2024).
Receipts
Archived copies of every source this page repeats, each with its SHA-256 fingerprint.
- Parliament recordStatement source: James Cleverly
- Government publicationHome Office, Police workforce, England and Wales, table H3 (March 2026 release): Police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (31 March 2010)
- Government publicationHome Office, Police workforce, England and Wales, table H3 (March 2026 release): Police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (31 March 2024)
- Government publicationHome Office, Police workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2025 release: Police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (30 September 2025)
- Government publicationHome Office, Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2026 release: Police officers, full-time equivalent, England and Wales (31 March 2026, latest)
- Government publicationHome Office: Police workforce tables, 31 March 2026 (ODS, table H3)
- Government publicationHome Office: Police workforce, England and Wales: 31 March 2026