'Misleading' policing advert banned by watchdog
Campaign promoting key Labour promise – that local police spend 80% of their time on the beat – is censored

A Home Office advertising campaign that highlights one of Labour's key election policies on crime and policing is to be banned by the advertising industry watchdog, the Guardian has learned.

The Advertising Standards Authority has told the Home Office that its television adverts highlighting the government's "policing pledge" that neighbourhood officers can now be expected to spend 80% of their time on the beat is to be banned with immediate effect.

The ASA says in an adjudication to be published next week that the television ad breaches its "legal, decent, honest, truthful" code because it is misleading on at least three counts.