The claim there is “two-tier policing” in the UK is false and is a “slur” against serving officers, a minister has said. 

The chief secretary to the Treasury tells Sky News she doesn’t believe this exists in Britain, despite claims that it does by senior Reform UK politicians. 

Challenged why she believes this is the case, Lucy Rigby said: “I think that is a slur on the thousands of police officers that go out to work every day putting themselves in harm’s way to serve the public, to try and prevent crime and to keep us all safe. 

“So I think that the suggestion in light of that, that we have two-tier policing, which suggests at its heart that the police are on a sort of systemic basis, putting the interests of one group and above another, I genuinely think is a slur on all those police officers.”

She added that she also thinks it is right that guidance from a key policing body around how to enact anti-racism principles is being reviewed.

Rigby explained: “We have, in this country, equality before the law. That is a fundamental British value, up there with respect and tolerance and fairness and democracy and everything else that makes me proud to be British and frankly, makes this country great. 

“But equality before the law is the key and so I think once you’ve set that as the bedrock, everything needs to stem from that.”

Challenged that some say the document being reviewed leads to equality before the law not being applied, she replied that “there may well be a section about where the wording is clumsy”.

“So that will be what will be looked at,” she added.