Policing and Crime Bill

The Minister and I will never agree on this point. The effect of what he is saying is a great tightening band around police authorities’ freedoms to manage their affairs sensibly. Police authorities do not go spending willy-nilly money that they do not have or cannot raise properly. I advise the Minister that in north Yorkshire a number of years ago—not under my watch; it was as soon as I left, when the Conservatives took over the running of the authority—the precept ranged enormously. It was the largest in the country. It is not right to say that this cannot happen and that the Home Secretary can impose a cap. He did not do so when north Yorkshire did what it did, because it was done proportionately. Local people have voted for what they want their police authority to provide. I fear that we will go over this again and again, and I apologise to the Minister for continue to nag him about it, but at this point I know that we are not going to get any further, so I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 18 withdrawn.