Northern mayors call Met chief’s ‘super-force’ plan a threat to local policing
England’s regional mayors have turned on Sir Mark Rowley’s proposal to merge the 43 police forces into eight to ten, a day after his speech warning that policing is “heading for failure”. Liverpool’s Steve Rotheram called it “the wolf of centralisation dressed up in sheep’s clothing”; the North East’s Kim McGuinness said “the Met is not in a position to preach to northern police forces”. The mayors want any new forces drawn on their own boundaries.
The commissioner told his audience on Friday that “we have 43 overstretched forces trying to do too much, with too little”, that police funding has fallen from 0.9% to 0.7% of GDP, and that standing still “looks like a degradation of policing day by day”. The mayors see a power grab. York and North Yorkshire’s David Skaith said he would “not be lectured” and added: “Let’s not sit here and say the Met has a fantastic track record. It certainly does not.” Greater Manchester’s Bev Craig said local accountability “at a geographic level that makes sense, works”; Ms McGuinness insisted “this is not a choice between neighbourhood policing and specialist capability”. Not every chief agrees: Greater Manchester’s Stephen Watson calls the status quo “decline by design”. Lord Hogan-Howe’s review for Shabana Mahmood, commissioned in January and still unpublished, is understood to canvass between nine and 18 forces, and the Treasury has told police to expect no extra money. Andy Burnham, who ran Greater Manchester’s police as mayor, has yet to say where he stands; one mayor expects him to settle on roughly half the present number. Watch for his response.