76% of Lib Dems reject elected police commissioners – but 73% want there to be Lib Dem candidates

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th November 2012 - 7:55 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Three-quarters of Lib Dem members oppose new PCC posts

LDV asked: Elections will be held on 15 November to choose Police and Crime Commissioners who will replace police authorities currently in charge of 41 forces in England and Wales. Do you support or oppose the introduction of elected PCCs?

Little doubt here about the views of most Lib Dem members one week before the elections to the posts of elected police and crime commissioners throughout England and Wales: three-quarters are opposed, with just 15% in support (including, ahem, me).

However, 73% want Lib Dems to stand for election as PCCs

The Lib Dems are contesting 23 of the 41 elections to choose Police and Crime Commissioners. Which of these views is closest to your own?

Lib Dem members may not be taken with the new elected PCC posts — but that doesn’t mean you think we should sit them out. In total, 73% back the party standing candidates in the elections compared to just 19% who oppose the idea. Here’s a sample of your comments…

I oppose the introduction of elected PCCs because I believe that is too much power in the hands of one person. Also it introduces politics into the delivery of policing which I think is wrong. Politicians make laws, the police enforce them and should do so free from political influence.

Huge waste of money and totally unnecessary. Claimed they’ll be “independent”, yet most candidates are party political (independents must find large deposit). The calibre of those in my area (Suffolk) doesn’t impress. I hear the commissioner will have the option of appointing a deputy, at a further cost of around £30,000, and aren’t required to state prior to the election who their appointee would be. The signs are that turnout will be very low so they won’t be able to claim a mandate. I haven’t decided whether to spoil my paper or just not vote, which would be the first time ever.

I would support elected apolitical PCCs – but how can this occur? Only party-supported candidates can afford to stand for election!

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t going to use my vote….. though now I am not sure, because the candidate was a serving police officer. There is no way would I vote for a political candidate. (a member of Liberal / Lib Dems for over 42 years)

I believe that PCCs are better than the current system because of the increased democratic accountability (which is only indirect at present through a small number of Councillors on Police Authorities and the Home Secretary) though not as good as a system of directly elected collectively responsible Police Boards.

I support the idea of making police forces more accountable to the people, but this is not the way to do it – as soon as direct election is intorduced, it becomes party political, and nothing more than a popularity contest for the government and opposition. I suspect few, if any, of the posts will go to ‘independants’.

Democratically speaking, a retrograde step and a surefire electoral farce. We should have boycotted it.

This is another way to undermine local government. The base of our party is our work to get control of the local council. If councils have no control and councilors no influence over things like policing, education home building what are they, other than a utility? Hardly anyone wants to be involved in local politics at the moment, this change is another nail in the coffin of our party.

Over 1,200 Lib Dem paid-up party members are registered with LibDemVoice.org. Some 550 responded to the latest survey, which was conducted between 28th and 31st October.

Please note: we make no claims that the survey is fully representative of the Lib Dem membership as a whole. However, LibDemVoice.org’s surveys are the largest independent samples of the views of Lib Dem members across the country, and have in the past offered accurate guides to what party members think.

For further information on the reliability/credibility of our surveys, please refer to FAQs: Are the Liberal Democrat Voice surveys of party members accurate? and polling expert Anthony Wells’ verdict, On that poll of Lib Dem members.

The full archive of our members’ surveys can be viewed at www.libdemvoice.org/category/ldv-members-poll

* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.

2 Comments

Tim13 8th Nov '12 - 10:23am

Very well put, the last commenter quoted by Stephen. Next year’s County elections should be a referendum on the version of localism apparently supported by the Tories (ie cut local councils out of meaningful decisions). It is all very well having a General Power of Competence, but if Councils have no money, and policy making becomes increasingly centralised within Cabinet, what good will that do? Please Lib Dems in power, show your active disapproval of this process. Don’t collude in a false and undemocratic “localism”.
Judith 9th Nov '12 - 10:19am

I am in two minds about this question. The advantage of having party candidates, of whatever party, is that belonging to a party shows electors broadly what the candidate’s viewpoint is. This is something we can’t know if there is no obvious party allegiance. However that doesn’t mean that an independent might not be the best candidate – but cannot afford to stand.
As to whether we should have elected commissioners at all I am also not sure. Only one person need be “paid off” by the rich and powerful. But if police authorities have not done their job properly, as in the seeming cover up when an abusive children’s home very probably has not been investigated thoroughly, then at least with a commissioner the fault could be laid at one individual’s door. It is therefore in his or her own interest to make sure any investigation is completely thorough.
I’ve had a reply from Grampian Police saying everything was OK concerning their treatment of people involved in the Menie Estate business of Donald Trump. It seems to me their answer is breathtakingly complacent. What can I do about that at present with no commissioner?

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