May defiant over Labour attack on police tsar poll ‘shambles’

Home Secretary Theresa May has refused to apologise for the “shambles” of last week’s police commissioner elections after coming under fire from MPs over the woefully low turn-out.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper accused Mrs May of not listening to public opinion by choosing to spend £100m on a poll which “could have been spent on 3,000 police officers”.

The West Yorkshire MP said her Conservative opponent should apologise after “85 per cent of the public decided not to vote,” and was scathing over Mrs May’s decision to hold the elections in November. Elections are traditionally held in spring or summer to encourage people to vote.

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“She chose to hold them in November, to get the Home Office to run them and to deny the public proper information,” Ms Cooper told MPs. “She was warned in the Commons, the Lords, by the Electoral Commission, the Electoral Reform Society, that those decisions were wrong.

“She has to take some responsibility for the shambles she has created... People didn’t want these elections last week. They said it was a waste of money, they said they didn’t know anything about it, they objected to the policy and they didn’t want to vote in the dark.

“She didn’t listen to those warnings, and she’s not listening to the public now. Why doesn’t she apologise for the shambles her decisions created?”

But Mrs May hit back, accusing Labour of double standards and insisting that bringing a democratic mandate to police leadership for the first time will have a hugely positive effect.

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“I make no apology for introducing police and crime commissioners who have a democratic mandate,” Mrs May told the Commons. “For the first time the public know there is somebody who has been elected who is visible, accessible and accountable to the public.

“They replaced invisible, unaccountable, unelected police authorities. I think police and crime commissioners are going to make a real difference to cutting crime in this country.”

In total, 41 police and crime commissioners were elected across England and Wales last week. Many were formally sworn in yesterday and each will formally take up their post on Thursday.

Speaking at a low-key ceremony in Beverley yesterday after signing his oath of office, the first Humberside Police commissioner pledged to be non-party political once he takes up his new role.

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Conservative Matthew Grove, who narrowly beat Labour’s Lord Prescott in last week’s poll, said: “The election process was inherently party political, but as soon as the result was declared the party rosette came off and party politics stopped as well.

“I’ve taken a solemn oath that 
I will serve the people of northern Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire and I will do so without favour.”

Coun Grove also said he intended to resign his East Riding Council seat at the “earliest appropriate opportunity”, but suggested this would not be until next year to avoid another low turn-out with a winter election.

“Holding a by-election in winter is not ideal, so I want to give the opportunity for a by-election at the appropriate time,” he said.

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Figures released yesterday showed that far more ballot papers were spoilt in last week’s police commissioner elections than in any previous election.

Of the 31 polling authorities which released the information, North Yorkshire showed by far the highest proportion of spoilt ballots – more than seven per cent of the total cast.