West Midlands Combined Authority (Transfer of Police and Crime Commissioner Functions) Order 2024

Lord Kerr of Kinlochard Excerpts

Wednesday 13th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kerr of Kinlochard (CB)]

My Lords, I was alerted to this strange case by the noble Lord, Lord Bach, when he raised it in our debates in October. I still know very little about it that I have not learned from his speeches, and from the excellent report by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee under the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral. It is a very strange story and I worry that I am beginning to think I am getting cynical in my old age.

The Home Office tells us that the purpose of the exercise is to create a joined-up approach. I do not think this is about joining up; it is about stitching up. It seems to me that the purpose of the exercise is to connive at the hostile takeover that the mayor wants to conduct. I am not sure that we should be conniving.

There is another issue as well, which is the role of the Home Office. Thanks to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s pursuit of the matter, we have a marvellous “Sir Humphrey” letter from the Permanent Secretary in the Home Office—this is an area in which I do have expertise. It is a wonderful letter that reveals that in the Home Office—how should they know?—they were completely unaware of the requirement for a consultation. They were totally in the dark, because those rotters down the road at the levelling up department failed to tell them—shocking. Did they not read the speech given by the noble Lord, Lord Bach, on 23 October? We voted on the matter, and he spoke particularly on this case—this was the case he drew to our attention. Do they not read Hansard in the Home Office?

I think this consultation was a sham. I think that the Home Secretary did not care what it revealed, because as soon as he got the answer and the answer was, on the whole, “No, we’d rather not—forget it”, he immediately proceeded to approve the hostile take- over. He just picked up his decision from December and, within days of receiving the outcome of the consultation, he said, “Well, I don’t really care what you think; we’re going to go ahead and do this”. He was conniving at a stitch-up; I do not think that we should connive at a stitch-up, so I shall support the noble Lord’s amendment.

[Lord Sahota (Lab)]

My Lords, most of my points have been made, but I will make just one or two. First, when a PCC election happened in 2021, the PCC said clearly in his manifesto that there should be a free-standing PCC and that the PCC should not be taken over by the mayor. He supported that position, but his opponent said that he disagreed and that the role should be taken over by the mayor. He made it quite clear during the last election that this is what he supported.

My second point—most of it has been made—is that, during the public consultation last January, the present PCC asked the mayor for a public debate on this issue, but the mayor chickened out. He would not come out and debate with the present PCC on it.

Thirdly, this decision by the Home Secretary is contrary to the good principle of the Electoral Commission that before any changes to the election system there should be at least six months’ notice—that is not there. Those are my points, and I will support the amendment put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Bach.