Key facts
- Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, called for cutting England and Wales' 43 police forces to eight to 10.
- Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool city region, said the plans would undermine local accountability.
- The Hogan-Howe review, commissioned by home secretary Shabana Mahmood, has not been published.
- The review is understood to propose between nine and 18 larger forces, down from 43.
- Bev Craig, mayor of Greater Manchester, said she would urge the government not to adopt the most radical plans.
- Stephen Watson, Greater Manchester's chief constable, said the case for change was essential and unanswerable.
Mayors and police and crime commissioners across England criticized proposals by Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley to cut the 43 police forces of England and Wales to eight to 10 super-forces, in comments reported on November 7.
Rowley, Britain's top officer, made the call in a speech in Manchester on November 6. He said police would fail without radical change and that reform would strengthen local policing rather than weaken it. "We cannot ask local officers to confront international criminal networks without the strength of a wider service behind them," he said.
Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool city region, called the proposals "the wolf of centralisation dressed up in sheep's clothing" and said they would undermine local accountability. David Skaith, mayor of York and North Yorkshire, described the plans as a "real threat" to local policing and said he would not be lectured by Rowley on law enforcement. Kim McGuinness, mayor of north-east England, said a locally accountable police force is the cornerstone of the criminal justice system.
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans in January to reduce the number of forces and commissioned a review by Bernard Hogan-Howe, the former Met commissioner. The review, which has not been published, is understood to contain options for between nine and 18 larger forces, down from 43.
Many mayors believe forces should align with mayoral boundaries to give them greater oversight. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, is understood to be concerned that the changes may damage accountability and neighbourhood policing. One unnamed mayor said they believed the prime minister would settle on aligning forces to mayoral regions, cutting the number by about half.
Bev Craig, the Greater Manchester mayor, said she would urge the government not to implement the most radical of Rowley's plans. Stephen Watson, Greater Manchester's chief constable, said failing to reform would be "decline by design" and that the case for change was "essential and unanswerable", citing duplicated headquarters, chiefs and IT systems across the 43-force model.
Other senior police sources said the Treasury would provide no more money for law enforcement, with the changes expected eventually to free up hundreds of millions of pounds for officers and technology.