TORY election hopeful John Walsh has welcomed a pledge from his party bosses to pay for extra police.

Mr John Walsh, prospective Parliamentary candidate for Bury North, said: "The reality of life in Bury is that Greater Manchester Police numbers are down and crime is up, with violent crime up 19 per cent.

"Chesham Post Office has suffered three armed raids in ten months and a pensioner who suffered a burglary had to wait four hours before the police arrived," he said.

"I do not blame the police but the politicians who have failed to fund them."