A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES

The Westminster government announced on Wednesday (8th September) that they would postpone the elections for Police Commissioners from May to November of 2012, something that will push up the costs of the implementation process by around £25m to a total of £75m. The Westminster Home Affairs Committee was told that the £25m additional cost of staging the elections in November would not come out of the existing police budgets and the Home Office was in discussions with the Treasury about where the money would come from.

The path towards elected Police Commissioners in England (and Wales) which are being brought in as part of the Police and Social Responsibility Bill, has not been smooth for the Con Dem Government. The plans have already been rejected once by the House of Lords (in May 2011), not to mention the refusal by the National Assembly (in Cardiff) to pass a Legislative Compliance Motion (LCM) and even the Association of Chief Police Officers have expressed their concerns.

Perhaps now is the time for the devolution of control of Policing and Justice, before we end up with a right old constitutional dogs breakfast. Interestingly enough the National Assembly, the Scottish Parliament or Northern Ireland Assembly had never previously refused to approve an LCM or its equivalent, at least until the National Assembly refused to approve it's LCM.

Now legally there is no reason why the Home Office cannot push on with the proposed legislation on Police and Crime Panels. The Westminster Parliament remains supreme in relation to areas of law-making which have been devolved. Yet, if the decision is made to push on regardless with legislation on a devolved field against the wishes of a devolved legislature will raise important issues relating to devolution and not just in relation to Wales but also in relation to both Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Little appetite, interest or enthusiasm has been demonstrated one way or the other here in Wales for elected Police commissioners by the Welsh people or in truth their elected representatives. At a time when our police forces are preparing to deal with significant budget cuts, whatever the Welsh percentage of the £25 million pounds having to be spent, could be better spent on retain Police officers and civilian support staff and keeping more officers on the beat.