Conservatives vow to scrap London police watchdog if elected

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) will be axed and its scrutiny role handed to the London Assembly if the Conservatives win the next election, shadow home secretary Chris Grayling has announced.

In a speech to the Association of Police Authorities (APA) in Nottingham, Grayling said he could see “no good reason” why the MPA needs to exist as a separate body.

“In these straitened times, I can see little benefit in making the Metropolitan Police work with both the Mayor’s office and a separate police authority,” he said. “The London Assembly already carries out the scrutiny role into the Mayor’s other activities. Our intention would be to hand the scrutiny role in London to the elected members of Assembly.”

The shadow home secretary said he wanted a Home Office that “interferes less, that concentrates on providing strategic leadership and not micromanagement” and to “strip down” the paraphernalia of interference in policing that comes from ministers”.

He defended the Conservatives’ proposals for directly elected local police chiefs. “Change is inevitable, change that makes sure local accountability is clear, visible and resides in the hands of someone who is clearly seen as a community leader,” he argued.

Grayling recognised APA representatives would not like the outcome and many were “deeply opposed to this concept”. He promised to discuss the issue of operational independence in detail.

He also insisted that there is “no intention of handing over all of the powers that police authorities currently hold to a single individual, with no checks and balances, and no team to work with”.  A streamlined version of the arrangements in London where the Mayor’s actions are scrutinised by the London Assembly may be a model for providing those checks and balances.

Rejecting suggestions that electing police commissioners could see extremists take up the role, Grayling said: “Whilst there are undoubtedly a small number of places that do elect people with distasteful and extreme views, there is nowhere in the UK that  has come anywhere even close to electing an extremist across an entire force or police authority area.”

APA chair Rob Garnham warned that directly elected commissioners “would create unnecessary local conflict through the introduction of more party politics into policing, a move which would without doubt work against the interests of communities everywhere”.

He insisted that there was no evidence that the proposed elections would increase local accountability.