David Ruffley

Police officers are so mired in red tape that they risk spending more time recording crimes than solving them, a report warned yesterday.

Cops are also forced to investigate petty offences such as playground fights to hit Government targets -instead of concentrating on bigger crimes.

Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Ronnie Flanagan, who wrote the damning report, said a culture change was needed to cut "excess bureaucracy".

Internet chiefs could be jailed if they refuse to stop showing videos of playground fights and bullying, the Conservatives have threatened.

Former Crimewatch host Nick Ross was under fire last night after accusing the media of distorting crime figures.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Ross launched a scathing attack on the way the statistics were reported, saying journalists were hyping fears of crime.

He said: 'The media have long been peddling a big lie about crime, either that or they have been astonishingly incompetent about persuading their listeners, readers and viewers of the truth because the truth is that crime has been declining for well over a decade.

David Ruffley MP consulted Parish Councils representing rural villages in his constituency following BT's proposal to remove 53 public payphones across West Suffolk and offered to support villages who want to retain their payphone.

David has now written to St Edmundsbury Borough Council expressing his support for Parish Councils who want to retain their village payphone. BT is obliged by law to consult the Council, who will submit their response to BT in January following the recent public consultation.

David Ruffley MP has today backed St Edmundsbury Borough Council's opposition to more housing being allocated to the borough and welcomed a proposed strengthening of the policy relating to development in Bury St Edmunds.

St Edmundsbury Borough Council's Sustainable Development Panel met on Monday and recommended to the Council's Cabinet that the proposed annual rate of growth in the borough should remain at 540 new homes a year- rather than increase it to accommodate up to another 2,200 over and above this.

David Ruffley MP has today released new House of Commons figures which show the proportion of Suffolk students who received their student loans on time fell over the past year.

At the start of the 2008/09 academic year 12 percent of students had not received their student loan by 18 October. At the start of this academic year, 2009/10, this figure stood at 18 percent.

The new figures were revealed in answer to David's questioning of David Lammy MP, Minister of State for Higher Education.

David said:

David Ruffley MP has today written to Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Manager, Steve Peters, congratulating him on his efforts to deliver an improved Christmas lights display in the town.

For the first time ever, lights are up in Market Thoroughfare and Central Walk as well as on all the trees in The Traverse.

David said:

The number of police officers trained to use firearms has fallen, despite a rise in gun crime, new figures show.

According to the Conservatives, it means that ill-equipped police teams are being dropped into regions regarded as "gun hot spots.''

The number of authorised firearms officers has fallen from 6,738 in 1997 to 6,584 last year. But in the last five years the number of crimes recorded that involved guns rose by 11 per cent, from 10,023 to 11,084.

The number of firearms officers working in areas where gun crime is soaring has fallen sharply, figures released last night reveal.

And despite a steep overall rise in firearms-related offences, the total number of weapons-trained officers has dropped.

In gun crime 'hotspots' such as Liverpool and Nottingham there are around 40 per cent fewer armed officers.

The stark contrast between rising gun crime and falling numbers of armed police was highlighted in statistics released by the Home Office in response to Tory parliamentary questions.

Now rank and file officers send a message of ill-will to Home Secretary over their pay deal

A Chief Constable has delivered a withering snub to beleaguered Home Secretary Jacqui Smith by refusing to circulate her Christmas message to the force.

Gillian Parker, Chief Constable of Bedfordshire, has instead sent out her own message to officers incensed by Ms Smith's decision not to honour a pay rise in full.