Steve Reed calls on Tory newcomer to oppose Croydon police-station closure

 Croydon North MP Steve Reed has congratulated Chris Philp on his selection as the Conservative Party’s new candidate for Croydon South.  Philp was the Tory candidate in Hampstead and Kilburn at the last general election in 2010 when he put up posters about his campaign to keep local police stations open.

Following his review of policing in London, Tory Mayor Boris Johnson is closing every police station in Croydon North and Croydon South constituencies, with only a single full-time police station remaining to serve the entire borough.  Reed has been campaigning against the closures.  Mayor Johnson justified the closures claiming the savings would fund extra police officers, but Croydon will be left with fewer police on the streets than the inadequate number that existed immediately after the riots.

Steve Reed MP said: “I congratulate Chris Philp on his selection as the Tories’ new candidate for Croydon South.  He boasts about his campaign to keep police stations open in Camden.  I hope he will now join me in opposing Tory plans to close every police station in the constituency I represent and the one he hopes to represent while also leaving our borough with fewer police than we had at the time of the riots.  It would be very unfortunate if he were to oppose closing police stations in Camden but support closing them in Croydon.”