Police commissioner Alan Billings on his meeting with Boris Johnson

South Yorkshire’s police commissioner joined a meeting online with colleagues from other regions, the prime minister, home secretary Priti Patel and police minister Kit Malthouse.

Dr Billings said: “I said I supported the levelling up agenda. If areas were going to be regenerated we had to get crime and anti-social behaviour down.

“But if we are to help young people stay out of the clutches of the drug gangs, we had to restore youth services. That was not a policing matter, though I give help to clubs when I can. 

“It requires the government to help local authorities to restore what has been lost over the past ten years. 

“The PM listened but made no promises.”