POLICE failed to attend more than two out of three home burglaries across the Avon and Somerset force area last year, a Liberal Democrat investigation has revealed.

Taunton and Wellington Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate Gideon Amos said this was despite a promise that police would respond to all burglaries.

Mr Amos said it was yet another ‘empty promise’ on crime which was letting burglars and other criminals off the hook.

He said figures showed 67 per cent of burglaries went unattended by Avon and Somerset Police during the year, a total of 2,296 crimes

Police turned up to just 1,115 domestic burglaries.

Mr Amos said Home Office statistics also showed three in four burglaries nationally went unsolved in the year ending last September - 213,814 cases.

He said the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in June of last year said officers were attending all domestic burglaries and then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman welcomed the claim that police had ‘fulfilled their commitment to attend all domestic burglaries’.

Mr Amos said Liberal Democrats were calling for a legal ‘Burglary Response Guarantee’ under which all domestic burglaries would be attended by police and investigated.

It would be accompanied by a return to ‘proper community policing’, where officers were visible, trusted, and focused on tackling neighbourhood crime such as burglaries.

Mr Amos said: “The Government is an abject failure when it comes to law and order.

“First, they cut police officers and just recently they have decided to cut PCSOs by 80 here in Avon and Somerset.

“Burglary is one of the worst things that can happen to you.

“Too often here in Taunton and Wellington, it leaves people feeling unsafe in their own homes.

“The ongoing failure to investigate and attend burglaries can only be letting criminals off the hook while victims are abandoned and let down.”

Avon and Somerset police and Crime Commissioner Mark Shelford said: “This is a cynical attempt by the Liberal Democrats to pretend they have the interests of local people in Somerset at heart when in reality, just like Labour, the Liberal Democrats continue to snipe from the sidelines without offering a plan because they simply do not have one.

“In reality, residential burglaries in Avon and Somerset have fallen by over 16 per cent year on year, while the nationally they have only fallen by 2.6 per cent.”

MP Rebecca Pow said: “I am committed to working with our dedicated and successful police and crime commissioner Mark Shelford to reduce crime and increase the amount of police here in Taunton Deane.

“We have had some real improvements in tackling a range of crime-related issues locally though our effective partnership working.

“This includes in particular dealing with rural crime so that burglaries and theft has reduced.

“It is very disappointing that the Lib Dems are seeking to slur our hard-working police officers in this way, and I would encourage them to be more honest with local people rather than play politics with this vitally important issue.”