“Defund the Police” UK: Mobilising against Institutional Racism in a Hostile Environment

It is sometimes argued that calls to “defund the police” are not relevant to the UK, on account of its “policing by consent” model and the assertion that it is untainted by a history of racial segregation. The findings in this paper debunk the notion of British exceptionalism in policing, demonstrating that calls to defund the police in the United States are just as relevant in the UK where repeated attempts to reform the police and tackle institutional racism have failed. The paper also examines how abolitionist perspectives might bring about fundamental change, highlighting the key issue of power. As key figures in the BLM movement argue, reforms can only succeed if they are grounded in a broader project of radical or “abolition democracy.” The paper concludes by outlining the significant challenges to realising this objective in a context of ongoing budgetary austerity and a hostile political environment that denies the existence of racism whilst stoking racial divisions in the context of the so-called culture wars.