My Lords, I am very pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Bach, has again brought the attention of this House to this difficult issue.
I want to emphasise just three points. First, in this country, we have a noble approach to policing, which is policing by consent. It seems to me that policing by consent should also include policing by consent of our elected local representatives. In this case, that is clearly not there. All the constituent authorities agreed to oppose this merger—this amalgamation—of the two roles.
My second point is about local accountability. We know that the police service in the West Midlands spends a great deal of local public money, and there ought to be local accountability. I live in West Yorkshire, so I know how this will operate. The elected Mayor of West Yorkshire has also taken over the role of the police and crime commissioner and has appointed an unelected person to fulfil the role of what was formerly an elected police and crime commissioner, at a considerable salary.
The only way that local people can call to account the policing of their area is through the police and crime panel, which, as the Minister read out, has some quite limited powers to do so, including looking at the policing plan, which is drawn together by the police and crime commissioner or the mayor and the chief constable, and checking whether they are fulfilling it. That is inadequate, when those people are seeking to reduce crime and safeguard the lives of local people. Policing by consent has failed in this instance and accountability is totally inadequate.
8.30 pm
My third point is about process. I am not a great one for process and I admire people who follow it closely. This report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee is the most excoriating report that I can remember reading. At every stage of this process, the committee has condemned what happened in the politest way that it can, but we can read between the lines. We know it is saying that it is inadequate that due process has failed. If we are to have a Government on whom we can rely to follow the rules, they have failed. If they have failed and have been found out, which they have, they need to put their hands up, say they are sorry and that they failed, and withdraw this decision to amalgamate the PCC with the elected Mayor of the West Midlands.
All of us on these Benches will support the noble Lord, Lord Bach, if he wishes to test the opinion of the House on this matter, but I urge the Government to listen carefully to what has been said on every side of the House about how this decision has been made and resolve to go back to the Home Office to say, “This will not do; we will have to think again”.