Police forces in the UK have been accused of prioritising diversity schemes over crime-fighting after a think tank revealed they spent at least £631 million on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) activities over the last six years. According to a report by Policy Exchange, that sum could have funded around an additional 2,000 frontline police officers every year.
Report: DEI Spending Diverts Resources from Frontline Policing
The report’s author, former Metropolitan Police detective chief inspector David Spencer, warned that “the fundamental legitimacy of British policing is at stake”. He said: “Policy Exchange today reveals the astonishing cost of the police’s DEI obsession – at least £631 million over the last six years.” Spencer added that police chiefs had “sought to entrench the radical ideology of ‘anti-racism’ into British policing”, setting policing against its own principle to act “without fear or favour”. He argued that the policy-making was driven by police chiefs behind closed doors, not by the elected government or Parliament, and that the money should have been used to fight crime.
Where the Money Went
Policy Exchange broke down the spending: £431 million on the manpower costs of DEI training, £177 million on internal posts with a DEI component, and £23 million on external training and consultancy. The think tank estimated that this total would have paid for approximately 8.3 million hours of frontline operational policing on priorities such as knife crime, violence against women and girls, burglary, robbery and shoplifting.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described the spending as “a shocking waste of taxpayers’ money” and said it was “completely the wrong priority when the public rightly want to see more police on the streets tackling the knife crime, burglary and shoplifting we see every day”. He called for an end to “identity politics in the state, including in policing”. Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said the report showed police “have completely lost the plot” and pledged to scrap every DEI post if his party were in power.
Context and Criticism
The report assessed DEI spending in the years following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in the United States. In response, the UK’s National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing published a national “Police Race Action Plan”, with 73% of forces creating local versions. Policy Exchange found that 87% of forces have made an “anti-racist” commitment, which it argued reduces officers’ ability to act as impartial investigators and erodes the principle of “equality before the law”.
The issue has come under renewed scrutiny after the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who was handcuffed as he lay dying after being stabbed. The attending officers treated the killer as a victim, leading to allegations of anti-white bias in policing.
Police Defence
Chief constable Rachel Kearton, chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council’s DEI committee, defended the spending. She said: “Recent reviews and media coverage have rightly shone a spotlight on shortcomings in the standards and culture within policing, including issues that have disproportionately affected different communities over time. Understanding the communities we serve is essential to strengthening neighbourhood policing, building trust, and maintaining the legitimacy needed to police by consent. Improving culture and inclusion is not separate from frontline delivery, it underpins it. Investment in this area also supports forces in meeting their legal responsibilities.” She added that the funding represented “a very small proportion of the overall multi-billion pound policing budget” and that forces would continue to monitor outcomes and ensure value for money.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
