David Jamieson: Mayor's office not up to task of police governance

David Jamieson says the competence of West Midlands Mayor Andy Street's office had been called into question by the failure of a scheme to scrap the PCC's role.

Mr Street wanted the mayoralty to take over police oversight from May 2020, but the plan was thrown out by board members on the West Midlands Combined Authority, nine votes to five.

It came after allegations of cheating during the consultation process, which saw a social media post from Mr Street's account urge supporters to vote multiple times.

Labour PCC Mr Jamieson said he was "surprised" that the merger was rejected by such a wide margin, but noted that it was "clear" that some board members had felt deeply uncomfortable about the "party political aspect" of the consultation.

"The way the whole thing was handled calls into question the competence of the Mayor's office to be able to handle something as big as the governance of policing," he said.

"They were clearly never up up to the task.

"The behaviour over the consultation was amateurish and showed a real lack of organisation and governance."

Mr Jamieson has criticised the investigation into the controversy surrounding the consultation, which found that Mr Street had not been involved in any wrongdoing.

He revealed that an offer from the PCC's office to provide a former West Midlands Police fraud investigator to assist with the inquiry had been knocked back.

"The investigation was a whitewash and should have been conducted in a more independent way," he said. A probe into Solihull councillor Bob Grinsell, who claimed he had voted on several occasions using different names, is ongoing.

Mr Jamieson, who is standing down at next year's election, said the WMCA's decision meant there would be no transfer of powers to the Mayor's office until 2024 at the earliest.

"This is now dead in the water and it will be up to the next commissioner – and what I expect to be a new Mayor – to decide whether to bring the proposals back up after the next elections.

"For the time being I plan to get on with the day job and would urge the Mayor to do the same."

Mr Street said he was "disappointed" that the proposal had been voted down. "I still believe a combined Mayor and PCC role would allow for more joined up working, a single accountable figure in the region and would put preventing crime at the heart of WMCA activities.

"Naturally therefore I regret the decision which comes despite previous cross-party support for the principle of the merger.

"I hope the board will reconsider today’s decision in the future."

Mr Jamieson and Mr Street are due at a meeting next week to discuss regional issues.