MS calls for devolution of policing

A LABOUR Senedd member has called on the Welsh Government to hold talks with Westminster to ensure policing is "at long last, urgently devolved to Wales".

- CHRIS HAINES

Mick Antoniw made the comments in the Senedd after the UK Government confirmed plans to scrap police and crime commissioners (PCCs) in Wales and England in 2028.

The former minister described the creation of elected police chiefs as an "ill-thought-out concept done on the back of fag packet" that was "always doomed to eventual failure".

Mr Antoniw argued PCCs were introduced to "distract" from "massive policing cuts" that led to the previous Tory UK Government cutting 20,000 officers from forces across the UK.

He told the Senedd: "The only way this can work effectively in Wales is by the devolution of policing."

Mr Antoniw, the former chief legal adviser in the Welsh Government, added: "The failure to devolve policing previously was an act of political intransigence by the UK Government, rather than practical policy, however we now have the opportunity to rectify that anomaly."