Police Commissioner condemns Ministers over localism funding

Mark Burns-Williamson believes that police and crime commissioners (PCCs) should not be bound by rules which mean a precept rise above two per cent would trigger a “costly” referendum.

In an open letter to the Home Secretary Theresa May, Mr Burns-Williamson said: “I firmly believe that the resources raised locally to pay for the police service should be a matter for local agreement, and we should not be dictated to in this by Whitehall.”

He told the Yorkshire Post that if the Government “truly believed” in localism they would let PCCs set the precept after consulting with residents.

He also warned that it was “a nonsense” that PCC elections had taken place in November giving him less than four months to put together a budget and policing plan. He said: “The Government has already announced that the next elections for PCCs will be in May 2016 and this could be seen as an admittance that these elections should have been held in May in the first place.”

Mr Burns-Williamson wrote to the Home Secretary yesterday ahead of an announcement on Thursday when PCCs will be told how much Government funding their forces are to receive next year. He warned her that the West Yorkshire force had already had to find savings of £64m over two years resulting in 1,400 job losses among police officers and staff.

The letter said that other police forces have been more able to cope with cuts because more of their spending was funded through the council tax.

Since taking office last month he has launched a survey asking local people for views on policing and the budget.

One question asks whether people would be willing to pay an increase in the police precept above two per cent. Another gives people the option to say how large an increase they would be willing to pay up to five per cent – which would be an annual rise of £6.53 on a band D property.