A majority in the House of Lords have criticised the government over the way it has tried to transfer the powers of the PCC to the Mayor, describing its process as ‘incompetent’.
In an amendment, Peers said the Home Office had ignored the views of local councils and decided on the mayor getting the PCC powers, before asking the public how they felt about it.
The amendment was tabled by Lord Bach, who described the transfer of policing powers as, “a deal cooked up some time ago between the government and the mayor.”
He went on to say that the Home Secretary had “thrown out democratic norms in order to give your mate a job”.
The amendment didn’t put a stop to the final stage of the government’s legislation, but it did ensure there was a public record of the feelings of the Lords on the matter.
The Police and Crime Commissioner has applied to the court for a judicial review, challenging the decision of the Home Secretary to transfer PCC powers to the Mayor. A judge has promised a decision on the matter next week.
Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, a cross-bencher and former British Ambassador to the USA, added: “The Home Office tells us that the purpose of the exercise is to create a joined-up approach (by merging the roles). I do not think this is about joining up; it is about stitching up.”
He added: “I think this consultation was a sham.”
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster, said: “This is yet another damning indictment of the government and the Mayor’s proposed hostile takeover of PCC functions.
“It defies belief that they had failed to understand their own legislation, that they had specifically passed only weeks before, to remove the need for a democratic mandate in the West Midlands.
“The people of the West Midlands will be rightly concerned that the government and the Mayor’s cynical, divisive, unnecessary and undemocratic hostile takeover has once again been the subject of a damning indictment by the House of Lords.”
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