Tory police cuts are only part of the ongoing crisis affecting victims of crime

Austerity affected courts, prisons and public services while rates of poverty surged, creating the conditions for more crime

• Most violent or sexual offences went unsolved in UK crime hotspots last year

The period in which clear-up rates for the most serious crimes collapsed coincided with big cuts to police budgets, and the subsequent fall in police officer numbers of about 20,000.

The last Conservative government, responsible for the cuts after 2010 in the name of austerity, spent its time denying they would have any damaging effect on crime fighting in England and Wales. Then, in its final years, it started to reverse the cuts, and pretended wokery" among law enforcement had diverted officers' attention.