Pledge must be honoured

It is always wise to remember that what you say in front of a police officer may be used in evidence against you. In front of the massed ranks of the Scottish Police Federation at their conference in April, Alex Salmond gave in to pre-election temptation and delivered a guaranteed vote-winner. He undertook that if the SNP formed the next administration at Holyrood, Scotland would have an extra 1000 police officers. The delegates had heard it all before, so they questioned him more closely. In particular, Les Gray, chairman of the Strathclyde joint branch board, elicited from Mr Salmond that £78m was being set aside to pay for the officers. His audience believed that if the SNP were to win the election, the number of police officers in Scotland would increase from approximately 16,200 in 2007 to approximately 17,200 in 2011. Yesterday that was used in evidence against Mr Salmond as First Minister. Annabel Goldie, leading the prosecution for the Conservatives, drew out the imprecise answer that an additional 1000 police officers would be delivered "through increased recruitment, improved retention and redeployment".