Police and Justice Bill

One of the most depressing things about discussing the merger proposals is the complete lack of rigorous analysis of how they are going to be funded. All over the country, men and women who ought to be dedicating their time to fighting crime are having to spend months flicking paper around, trying to find ways to get out of mergers or comply with the Government’s timetable. Will the Minister say whether she believes that the cost of mergers will be outweighed by the benefits? Is she able to give final figures for the cost? Not to be able to do that at this stage of the Bill is dangerous. Surely, the ratepayers of this country are entitled to know what they are letting themselves in for. We must remember that not one extra police officer will be gained in all of this. That is a fine state of affairs. Billions of pounds will be pushed into unnecessary bureaucratic changes to structures when more officers, better tasked and trained, would do the job the Government want them to do. It is indeed depressing, and I am in favour of this amendment.