THE MP for North Cornwall Ben Maguire has spoken out against the role of Police and Crime Commissioner in Devon and Cornwall.

Speaking in the House of Commons, he said: “Given the turnout for the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner election in May this year was just 18 per cent, will the minister look to scrap this role, and invest that money instead in proper community policing in rural constituencies like mine of North Cornwall.”

Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire, Diana Johnson, responded saying that the government has no plans to scrap the role as they think they are a valuable body that can enable the missions that the government has set out to be enacted locally. She sited the Safer Streets mission as an area where the government needs to work with PCCs to ensure that the mission happens in the different force areas around the country.

Commenting after his contribution in the Commons, Mr Maguire said: “Only 0.1 per cent of the overall police workforce across England and Wales are dedicated to rural crime teams. This is just another example of rural communities being left behind by the Tories – and, it seems, by the new Labour government.

“The Liberal Democrats want the Police and Crime Commissioner role to be scrapped completely so that the savings can be invested directly into frontline policing, and ensuring that those rural crime teams like in North Cornwall are properly funded and resourced.

“These savings would be around £150-million every four years.”

In 2023-25 the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner will manage £820,000 funding for the Safer Streets mission which is aimed at tackling neighbourhood crime, violence against women and girls and anti-social behaviour.

This comes at a time when Cornwall Council are making cuts by turning off or dimming street lights overnight including in parts of the MP’s North Cornwall constituency including Padstow, St Columb Major, St Mabyn and St Breward.

Safety concerns have been raised on the back of the Cornwall Council initiative but they say safety is at the forefront in any decision made about switching off streetlights.

Alison Hernandez, Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner, has been contacted for response.