£100m Burnham Bonus for policing?
Could Andy Burnham’s first big win be a boost to policing? As the Mayor of Manchester, Burnham was the Police & Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester Police - holding the force to account and balancing the budgets despite the pitfalls set by his Labour colleague in the Home Office.
Amongst the horse trading and power play for those lining up in the hope of gifts being bestowed by Prime Minister Burnham, we have heard rumours of a falling out over the plans to reform the police.
Earlier this year Shabana Mahmood brought in former Met Commissioner Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe to redraw the map in a major shake up of police force boundaries. Many have questioned Lord Hogan-Howe’s independence given his long standing view that the number of police forces should be slashed to just a dozen mega forces. He is due to report back later in the summary, but it is strongly rumoured that the first draft of his report recommends - surprise, surprise - around twelve police forces.
This matters, not just for the long term future of policing, but because the whole process is costing a lot of money. In the current financial year alone the Home Office have topsliced £99.6million from the policing budget to fund their internal police reform programme. They have created a new quango, the Police Reform Delivery Authority. If these plans are allowed to continue the costs will grow and grow, and it is frontline policing that will pay the price. But are Shabana Mahmood’s reforms at risk in a row with the Prime Minister in waiting?
Andy Burnham is reported to be no ally of Lord Hogan-Howe after allegations that he lied about the Hillsborough disaster. He was cleared of misconduct by the, now defunct, Independent Police Complaints Commission, but they concluded that his evidence was misleading. It seems that despite Andy wanting to be everyone’s friend, he can still hold a grudge.
A big shake-up authored by Hogan-Howe that could take nearly a decade to deliver is unlikely to win favour. In Greater Manchester, Burnham has been seen to be close to Sir Stephen Watson, Chief Constable of GMP who has made a name for himself as a plain speaking copper. Perhaps the King of the North will be looking for a new sheriff.
The Home Secretary has already damaged her own authority in Whitehall by over-reaching in trying to sack Mike Tapp, and it seems reasonable to assume that a new Burnham cabinet will not keep Shabana Mahmood in her current job.
It has become clear since the Government published its White Paper on Police Reform, officials at the Home Office have been playing catch up with the scale of the work necessary to deliver anything like the ambition of what was announced. With the scale of the task seemingly growing, so will the costs, and the benefits of actually fighting crime continue to diminish. The stated timetable of passing the necessary legislation by April next year has looked precarious for many months, but a new tenant in Number 10 could entirely derail the plans.
If the writing is on the wall for Police Reform, then Burnham should move swiftly. Cancelling the programme now would save millions in this year alone, that could be immediately diverted to front-line policing as a Burnham Bonus. By contrast, allowing the merger plan to wither on the vine might seem politically easier, but it will allow the new Delivery Authority to continue to waste millions into future years that will deprive police officers of the support they need.
There are undoubtedly changes that need to be made to improve policing, but the current set of plans will be costly, disruptive and risks the operational independence of police officers.
Announcing the demise of the Police Reform White Paper as soon as he walks into Downing Street could be part of a clear out of the Starmer legacy that would allow Burnham to start with a clean slate in many policy areas. If he misses this opportunity it could be just one of many parts of his inheritance that he lives to resent.
