Justice chief defends election costs

NEW Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has defended the cost of November’s elections for police and crime commissioners, saying it is a price worth paying to give the public “a proper voice” on policing.

The cost of electing 41 commissioners across England and Wales is estimated at £75m and has been questioned at a time when police forces are facing budget cuts of about 20 per cent.

But speaking on a visit to Beverley to support Matthew Grove, the Conservative candidate for Humberside Police, Mr Grayling, said: “Democracy always costs money because you have to fund elections. If we are going to give people a proper voice I think it’s worth spending that money, but I don’t think it’s a question of cost because it’s about trying to do a better job and policing in different ways.”

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He added: “The day we can’t afford the price of democracy is a troubling day for our country.”

In a wide-ranging interview with the Yorkshire Post less than a week into his new job, Mr Grayling also said he intended to continue the “rehabilitation revolution” begun by his predecessor Ken Clarke.

But he refused to be drawn into the row over the comments of Judge Peter Bowers, who told a serial burglar in Teesside last week that his crimes “took courage”.

Mr Grayling said: “I don’t think it’s right for a person in my position to talk about individual decisions made by individual judges because you don’t have the whole context, but nobody is in any doubt about my views on burglary – it’s a serious crime and it should be dealt with seriously.”

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The commissioners, who will have the power to hire and fire chief constables and set policing priorities and budgets, will replace police authorities in the most radical shake-up of police governance in history.

Critics of the reforms, who include Yorkshire chief constables Sir Norman Bettison and Tim Hollis, fear they may open the door to corruption and bring politics to the heart of policing, but the Government says they will make police forces more accountable to the communities they serve.

Mr Grayling said: “The Government wants more decisions to be taken locally and the problem with the current system of police authorities is they are anonymous and people have no idea they have police authorities.

“Having a single figure locally they can identify the person 
responsible, not for deciding 
who is arrested but for taking 
strategic decisions for policing in their areas, and they know who they can go to if they are not getting the policing support they need.”

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Lord Prescott, the Labour candidate for Humberside Police, was also in Beverley on Saturday and said he may seek to slow the pace of cuts at the force, which intends to shed more than 400 officers by 2015 amid funding shortfalls of about 15 per cent.

Lord Prescott said: “I would like to consider ‘plan B’ because I don’t accept ‘plan A’ – it’s far too severe.

“If you look at what the chief of police says in his three-year plan and the numbers, that 400 officers may have gone, do we need to be that severe and so quick? I would say no.

“I’m consulting with people on what they want to see and whether it’s best to have a plan B because if we want to be this voice for the community we have got to find out what the community wants.”

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The former Deputy Prime Minister also dismissed the suggestion of UKIP candidate Godfrey Bloom to remove most speed cameras.

Lord Prescott said: “I introduced speed cameras and there is a correlation between the cameras and the number of people killed. Something that kills more of my constituents and children doesn’t seem like a vote winner.”