I remain unconvinced by “defund the police”, abstracted from a wider set of transitional demands, as, like “welfare not warfare”, it suggests a finite pot of social wealth, with a struggle only over its distribution. But these are definitely the conversations we need to have.
I am for less funding going to the police. I’m against reversing the cuts the Tories have made to police funding, and for further cuts. But as we can see, the Tories having defunded the police doesn’t automatically ameliorate any wider social issue, or curb police powers.
Demands to reduce police funding should, in my view, be a constituent part of a wider programme that prioritises demands for increased taxation of the rich and the expropriation of banking and finance to fund a social levelling-up in terms of jobs, housing, and education.
