The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has just confirmed that elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are to be abolished. I understand that the PCCs will continue in post until May 2028, when the next set of elections would have been held.
Labour is describing the introduction of PCCs by David Cameron’s Government in 2012 as a “failed experiment.” They are promising that there will be savings, which will “fund more neighbourhood police on the beat across the country.”
One PCC has resigned from Labour as a consequence of the changes and a former Labour PCC / Government Minister from Wales, Alun Michael, has said that the changes “didn’t make any sense at all.” He has also claimed that the proposed savings simply will not happen. A Conservative PCC has declared that “swapping an elected PCC for an appointed one” was inappropriate. He added “it is a bit of a mess … removing democracy.”
Cornwall’s two sitting Liberal Democrat MPs have meanwhile called on Alison Hernandez, the PCC for “Devon and Cornwall,” to do “the decent thing” and resign immediately, so as not to “waste millions more in taxpayer funds.” I am not sure how this would work, as a vacancy within the next couple of years would inevitably lead to a by-election. They seem to have conveniently forgotten that the Commissioners were created by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition.
There are no PCCs in Scotland and the Scottish Police is overseen by a Police Authority, which is “accountable to Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Parliament.” In Wales, Plaid Cymru is calling for the full transfer of powers over policing and justice to the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff, and the Policing Minister Sarah Jones has said the UK Government will “work with the Welsh Government … recognising the unique nature of Welsh arrangements.”
But what will it all mean for Cornwall? The Home Secretary says that she plans to “introduce new reforms so police are accountable to their local mayoralties or local councils,” while the Policing Minister has added that the functions of PCCs will be transferred to elected mayors “wherever possible.”
Some people are already suggesting that this move will embolden those seeking to impose a cross-Tamar mayor on Cornwall – irrespective of what we think.
We do not want a Devonwall mayoralty. I have got a much better suggestion. Isn’t now the time for the UK Government to deliver meaningful Celtic-style devolution for Cornwall, and reconstitute a Cornwall Constabulary based to the west of the Tamar?
Article by Cllr Dick Cole published in the Cornish Guardian (19th November 2025) and West Briton newspapers (20th November 2025)