UK Police chiefs threaten legal action over reforms

THE deputy mayor of London is among the six police and crime commissioners who have threatened the Home Office with legal action over funding for police forces in England and Wales.

Five of the group are Conservatives and they are taking a stand against proposed changes to police funding which they have labelled “unjustified and deeply flawed.”

The Home Office is consulting on new proposals to change how the government funds the 43 forces in England and Wales and have called the old funding structure “not fit for purpose.”

Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, Clive Grunshaw, said the process had not been managed properly,

“It’s not been an open process. It’s not been transparent. There’s been no proper understanding or scrutiny that’s been available to challenge the process because we just haven’t understood what it’s actually meant.”

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said last month that the changes would “severely disadvantage” the capital.

Speaking to the London Assembly, he said its impact “has not been properly thought through at all”.

The Home Office has maintained that the police would continue to have the necessary resources whatever changes were made.

Chancellor George Osborne is set to announce details of the Home Office budget for 2015-16 in November.