Bid to settle mayor-PCC merger row in courts

The Police and Crime Commissioner is calling on the Home Secretary to abandon his backing of merger plans

A request has been submitted for a legal review into the plan to merge the roles of West Midlands mayor and police and crime commissioner (PCC).

Labour's Simon Foster, the serving PCC, has applied for a judicial review in the High Court to challenge Home Secretary James Cleverly's backing of a transfer of powers to the mayor's office.

The region's Conservative mayor, Andy Street, has given his formal consent to the plan, with the decision to go before MPs for approval.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.

Mr Foster, who was elected to the role in May 2021, said: "Enough is enough. As PCC my one and only top priority is preventing, tackling and reducing crime.

"I am committed to complying with my pledge to the electorate. I was elected with a mandate to retain a democratically elected and directly accountable PCC."

Mr Foster had previously said the merger plan amounted to a "hostile takeover".

Mayors already have police oversight powers in London, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire.

The official Home Office consultation into proposals for the West Midlands showed 50% of responses to a survey of about 7,000 people disagreed with merger, while 46% agreed, although the outcome was called into question.

Any merger would not take place until after the winner of the West Midlands Mayoral Election was confirmed in May, Mr Street said previously.

Labour's representative in that election will be Richard Parker after Mr Foster failed in his bid to secure the party's candidacy.

Since its creation, the role of West Midlands PCC has been held by Labour politicians, while the mayor has always been a Conservative, with Mr Street the sole incumbent.

Mayor Andy Street has given his formal consent to the merger

If the merger goes ahead, the next West Midlands mayor would have the power to set West Midlands Police's budget, appoint chief constables, and issue a policing plan.

A spokesman for the West Midlands mayor said: "We dread to think how much taxpayer money is being wasted on London lawyers by the PCC in trying to save his job, money that should be in West Midlands Police's budget to be spent on frontline police.

"To be really clear, the mayor is not subject to this judicial review, and has no intention of backing away from taking the tough steps required to tackle the scourge of crime across the West Midlands."

Home Secretary James Cleverly moved plans forward to merge the roles of West Midlands mayor and police and crime commissioner

This is now a race against time for the government and mayor Andy Street.

As it stands, we’re due to have separate elections for the mayor and the PCC.

The decision to scrap the PCC role and transfer the powers to the mayor is in the process of being signed off by MPs in time to avoid the need for separate elections.

But this legal action could throw a spanner into that timeline.

Judicial reviews don’t tend to be quick or straightforward. We’re only 77 days away from those elections, and even an expedited legal process might not be enough to settle this before then. Especially if decisions are subject to appeal.

Of course, the courts might decide there’s no case to answer and throw out this application.

But Simon Foster, a lawyer by trade, is convinced he has a case.