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Police aren’t paid to ‘wave flags or dance with drag queens,’ says Suella Braverman

“We do not pay [police] to wave flags at parades, to dance with drag queens or to campaign”

By Emily Maskell

Suella Braverman
Suella Braverman (Image: WikiCommons)

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has once again made comments about so-called “woke” policing.

Braverman has demanded police chiefs to stop “playing politics” and “wave flags at parades.”

The 43-year-old politician appeared to target the way LGBTQ+ and Pride events are policed in the Commons on Monday (18 September).

Braverman expressed that chief constables and elected police and crime commissioners should be “cutting crime and rebuilding confidence, not playing politics.”

Braverman made the remarks while rresponding to a question from fellow Conservative MP Nick Fletcher.

Fletcher said police would solve more crimes “if they started putting more bobbies on the beat and stopped promoting unscientific ideologies.”

The Home Secretary added: “My honourable friend is quite right. We pay the police to fight crime.

“Whether that’s a focus on anti-social behaviour, the nuisance bikers or burglaries, as he’s mentioned.”

She also added: “They are there to keep people safe.

“We do not pay them to wave flags at parades, to dance with drag queens or to campaign,” Braverman stated.

“We do not pay them to wave flags at parades”

She went on to say that is why she “ended all association with Stonewall at the Home Office.”

“I expect all PCCs and chief constables to focus on cutting crime and rebuilding confidence, not playing politics,” Braverman concluded.

This isn’t the first time Braverman has shared her thoughts on policing. 

Almost a year ago, Braverman condemned a police force’s “politically correct” anti-hate crime campaign.

The campaign suggested dead naming a trans person could be a hate crime. However, Braverman stated that such work “undermines” public confidence in police forces.