04.07.12
Your favourite colour
It’s hard to see the point of November’s inaugural elections of Police & Crime Commissioners in England and Wales, with all the indicators being that the winners will be elected based on their party’s popularity in a region, on a dismal turnout.
Falklands war veteran Simon Weston, who was standing inSouth Walesas an independent, has dropped out of the running, citing the over-politicisation of the race, and even the remaining candidates themselves think party labels will be more important than experience or knowledge of policing in getting elected, according to an LGA survey.
So most people with a bit of knowledge about UK politics could probably look at a map today and have a pretty good idea of who’s going to be elected in each area, based purely on local politics: so we’re going to see the typical urban/rural and north/south split that we get in general and local elections.
Surely a reform of the police authority system – where at least different parties were represented, acknowledging minority views in each area – would have been better than this.
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