Teesside MPs demand more police and fire resources after nine deaths in a week

Five Members of Parliament representing Teesside have issued a joint plea to the government, demanding greater support for local police and fire services. Their appeal comes after a harrowing week that saw nine fatalities across the region, prompting concerns about public safety and resource allocation.

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We do suffer those metropolitan levels of crime, and yet comparatively our funding looks much more like a rural area, and it simply cannot continue like that.

The MPs stated that the communities they represent deserve "the strongest possible backing from the government." This collective statement follows two particularly devastating incidents. On Saturday, a head-on collision on the A66 resulted in the deaths of seven individuals, including two police officers. Just days earlier, a woman and her seven-year-old niece perished in a house fire in Grangetown, an incident police suspect was deliberately started and which occurred less than a mile from the A66 crash site.

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We’ve got to put resources where the demand is most high, and that is Cleveland, and that’s the message to ministers.

Andy McDonald, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, directly linked the incidents to organized crime and the drug trade, asserting that gangs are "clearly featuring" in the area's troubles. He sharply criticized the long-term underfunding of Cleveland police, arguing that the force's budget is disproportionately low compared to the metropolitan levels of crime it handles. "We’ve got to put resources where the demand is most high, and that is Cleveland, and that’s the message to ministers," McDonald insisted.

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The important thing [is], it’s a terribly tragic event that’s happened, with the loss of a young woman and her seven-year-old niece.

Alec Brown, leader of Redcar and Cleveland council, echoed the sentiment, stating that residents deserve to "feel safe in their own homes." Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged the tragic events, promising "all of the support that the authorities need" while cautioning against premature conclusions about any connection between the A66 crash and the Grangetown fire. He expressed deep sympathy for the victims and the grieving community.

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Utterly devastating. I’m sure there’s a whole community that is grieving.