Commissioners, Bishops and petrol duty – these rather
diverse issues seem to have dominated the recent headlines until this last
weekend when, once again, Europe reared its head.
Since I’m writing this article on Thursday evening any
thoughts on the outcome of this weekend’s EU summit will be for another day
though my vote against an increase to the EU budget a couple of weeks ago shows
clearly where I stand.
You’ll recall that the week before last was polling day
for the new Police & Crime Commissioner. As an enthusiastic supporter of
the idea of an elected representative to ensure democratic oversight of our
police I was, of course, disappointed with the low turnout but am confident
that the public will come to appreciate the role. It was particularly good to
see that Matthew Grove spent his first day in office in Grimsby rather than
Hull and I'm looking forward to welcoming him back into my constituency in the
near future.
I recognise that many opposed the introduction of elected
commissioners believing that it was in some way ‘politicising’ the police. I
don’t share that view. The old system of a police authority made up of local
councillors and independent members did not amount to anything that could be
described as real accountability.
These police authorities were often chaired by
councillors; couldn’t that be equally described as political oversight?
The new commissioner will not have any operational
responsibility which remains with the chief constable but will set priorities,
after proper consultation with the public, allocate resources and have power to
hire and fire the chief. In the case of the Humberside force he will set about
recruiting a new chief as Tim Hollis will be retiring in the spring. Mr Hollis
took over when the force was at a low ebb and has done an excellent job.
I know that there was considerable support for ex-police
officers who put themselves forward for election. Without being in anyway
critical of them as individuals I feel that an ex-officer is entirely the wrong
person for the job. The post is to be the public’s representative and however
hard they may try a former officer will tend to view things from the police
perspective rather than the public’s.
Another criticism
was that it was introducing another level of bureaucracy and therefore
increasing costs. It has been well reported that the Commissioner will receive
a salary of £75,000 p.a. but, are you aware that the eighteen members who were
members of the old police authority were each entitled to a basic annual
allowance of £8,993 (18 x 8993 = 161,874) plus special responsibility
allowances. The full details of the Humberside authority’s budget can be seen
at www.humberside-pa.org.uk
Many hard-working, dedicated people have served on police
authorities but the time had come for change.
Last Wednesday, in my capacity as Vice-Chairman of
Parliament's All-Party Fair Fuel for Motorists Group I spent a few hours taking
evidence from various organisations including the RAC, the Road Haulage and
Freight Transport Associations and Fair Fuel UK, who have done so much to
highlight the impact of high fuel duty on individuals and businesses.
The evidence will be passed to the Treasury ahead of the
Chancellor's Autumn Statement. Petrol is already 10p a litre less than had we
kept the increases scheduled by Gordon Brown's government in place but our
Group are working hard to persuade George Osborne that this issue is even more
significant than some of the many others he is considering.
One of the ways of bringing to the attention of the House
of Commons an issue that hits the headlines is by way of an urgent question,
usually a Government minister will be summoned to reply but on Thursday it was
the Second Church Estates Commissioner. This is the MP Tony Baldry who speaks
for the Church of England who was facing hostile questions from everyone who
spoke.
The C of E as the Established Church is ultimately
governed by Parliament. The rejection of proposals to allow women bishops has
caused a potential clash between Church and State. Parliament has devolved its
powers of governance to the General Synod. Some MPs were suggesting that
Parliament should introduce legislation to overule the Synod. I'm a supporter
of women bishops and will be following developments with interest.
As a footnote to my opening story and the last is that
John Prescott received more first
preference votes but lost and more people at the Synod voted in favour of women
bishops than against but lost.
Isn't democracy wonderful.
