A Question of Priorities

Britain's only specialist police human trafficking unit is to be shut down after two years because of a lack of funding, the government said today.

A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed that money for the Metropolitan police team, which totalled £1.8m in the first year and £780,000 in the second, would no longer be available after April

Experts and campaigners reacted to the move with dismay. Denise Marshall, chief executive of the Poppy Project, which helps trafficked women after they have been rescued, said she was appalled at the decision, which would have a "hugely detrimental impact".

So, the Government can't quite find the huge sum of £1.8 million to help concretely exploited and vulnerable women, and yet *can* somehow find the odd £19 billion to pay for ID cards that will be used to combat terrorism illegal immigration identity fraud benefit fraud littering....