Police and Justice Bill

My hon. Friend is being very generous with his time. He knows that one of Peel’s nine principles was that the police’s ability to perform their duties is dependent on public approval of police actions. Some 96 per cent. of respondents to a telephone poll in West Mercia, which the police conducted in a thoroughly professional manner, wanted West Mercia to be a strategic force. Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a real risk that, if we do not consult the public through a referendum, these huge new forces will not have legitimacy in the eyes of the public?