The government has announced plans to abolish the role of police and crime commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales.
First established in 2012, these elected officials are currently responsible for setting police force budgets and appointing chief constables in their respective areas.
Ministers intend to scrap the positions in 2028, coinciding with the next scheduled elections, a move projected to save at least £100 million which will be redirected to neighbourhood policing.
Their duties concerning policing arrangements will instead be absorbed by mayors and local council leaders.
The decision was confirmed by policing minister Sarah Jones in the House of Commons on Thursday.
In a statement, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “The introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners by the last government was a failed experiment.
“I will introduce new reforms so police are accountable to their local mayoralties or local councils.
“The savings will fund more neighbourhood police on the beat across the country, fighting crime and protecting our communities.”
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp has accused the government of “tinkering around the edges”, which policing minister Sarah Jones has denied.
Mr Philp told the Commons: “The minister mentioned at the beginning the government’s plans to bring forward a police reform white paper, announced, from memory, about a year ago.
“But there hasn’t been a single sniff of that white paper since then. Perhaps she can tell us when we can expect it and why the government is so bereft of ideas, it has taken a year or more to publish that white paper.
“Now, today’s statement about police and crime commissioners represents, in my view, a tinkering around the edges from a government which is failing on crime and policing.
“If you like, it is simply rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, because this government is failing, police numbers are falling – they fell by 1,300 during Labour’s first year in office on a like-for-like March-to-March comparison – and not only are police numbers falling, they are continuing to fall and will drop even more this year.”
In her response, Ms Jones said: “Saving £100 million, I think, is quite substantial and not ‘tinkering around the edges’ as he suggests.
“But what I would say to him is, if he waits a few more weeks, he will see the reform agenda that the Home Secretary (Shabana Mahmood) is designing in its totality.
“And it will put policing on a much better footing than he left it.”
Reacting to the announcement, Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) chairwoman Emily Spurrell said the body is “deeply disappointed by this decision and the lack of engagement with us”.
She warned: “Abolishing PCCs now, without any consultation, as policing faces a crisis of public trust and confidence, and as it is about to be handed a much stronger national centre, risks creating a dangerous accountability vacuum.”
Ms Spurrell, who is also PCC Merseyside, said having directly-elected PCCs has “transformed policing accountability”.
