Cleveland Police receives £2m after fatal A66 crash triggered organised crime wave
The Home Secretary has pledged £2m to Cleveland Police following the A66 crash that killed two officers and five others, sparking a surge in serious crime.
£2m for Cleveland Police after A66 crash deaths unleashed crime surge
Google News UK — Crime (en) reports that Cleveland Police is to receive an additional £2m in government funding following a fatal wrong-way collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough that killed two of its officers and five other men, and subsequently triggered a wave of serious criminal activity in the area.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the allocation in Parliament, citing the "challenges faced by Cleveland Police" in the aftermath of the crash on 22 August at South Bank, in which PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough died alongside five men whose vehicle struck them head-on.
Since the deaths, the force has arrested 27 people in connection with activities linked to "serious and organised crime." Around 200 officers from other forces were drafted in to assist Cleveland Police as incidents mounted, including homes being rammed and vehicles set ablaze at a vigil.
"In light of the situation the force has faced, we will allocate an additional £2m to Cleveland Police to tackle serious crime in the area," Mahmood told MPs. "We will do our best to support the Middlesbrough community, which is hurting and grieving right now."
Funding condemned as "wholly inadequate" and "insulting"
The announcement drew immediate criticism from politicians across the political spectrum. Conservative MP Chris Philp called the £2m pledge "wholly inadequate," expressing concern about a broader structural funding shortfall at the force. "This lawless gang chaos should never have been allowed to take root in the first place," he said.
Cleveland's Labour Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Matt Storey went further, describing the one-off payment as "not a solution" and branding it "insulting" and "performative." He said the sum did "nothing to address the chronic underfunding that has disadvantaged policing in Cleveland for years."
Storey argued that Cleveland Police requires at least an additional £20m annually to recruit and retain 200 more officers and meaningfully strengthen efforts against serious and organised crime. He also called on the government to revise the funding formula used to determine force allocations, saying it fails to account for the high levels of poverty and deprivation in the Cleveland area.
He said he wanted that change made "right now," rather than waiting for the outcome of a policing reform inquiry not due to report until 2034. "That's too long, we can't wait eight years — it should happen now," Storey said.
Highest crime rate in England and Wales
Labour MP Andy McDonald, who represents Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, told the Commons that Cleveland Police covers the area with the highest rate of recorded crime of any force in England and Wales — approximately 123 crimes per 1,000 residents — yet had suffered the largest percentage reduction in officer numbers since 2010.
"Police numbers are not the only factor, but a force facing the highest demand in the country needs the resources to respond," McDonald said. He welcomed the £2m as addressing a portion of the immediate shortfall but pressed for a discussion on how funding deficits could be "urgently and permanently corrected."
Luke Myer, Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, similarly called on the government to review how police funding is assigned across forces.
Mahmood acknowledged the concerns, saying she was committed to reviewing the funding formula and pointed to the previous government's reductions in officer numbers nationally as a contributing factor. She offered to meet with local MPs to discuss the issue and said she would update Parliament once an independent review of police force structures had been completed.
The crash on 22 August remains the context for the broader debate: seven people died that night on the A66, and the criminal activity that followed has placed Cleveland Police — already one of England's most stretched forces — under acute pressure.
Source: Google News UK — Crime (en)