Yvette Cooper spoke of how the police force in Swindon and Wiltshire is overstretched and that more officers are needed in the area.

Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary was speaking during a visit to Swindon where she walked around the town centre with police officers.

The politician spoke to both officers as well as members of the Swindon public on Thursday afternoon.

“It has been quite a long time since I have been to Swindon so it is lovely to be back,” she said.

“I have been walking through town and just talking to everybody and chatting to people and the police.”

The Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP spoke to the Adver about the issues facing Wiltshire’s police force.

“Neighbourhood police do a brilliant job and they’re working really hard but they are overstretched,” she said.

“They can’t follow up all of the leads they have and the information they have because there just aren’t enough of them.”

Ms Cooper stated that more police officers are needed in the county to be able to effectively tackle the crime faced.

“We are seeing very often how the neighbourhood teams here and across Wiltshire are falling short because of the pressures on policing more widely,” she said.

“We’ve got to get police back into those neighbourhood teams, officers and PCSOs working together, and that is what Labour will do.”