MP calls for police and crime commissioner to resign as row goes on over Tipton Police Station's future

During a strategic policing crime board meeting on Tuesday, West Midlands PCC Simon Foster suggested that West Bromwich West MP Shaun Bailey should urge the Government to reform the "deeply flawed" police funding formula if he wants to save Tipton Police Station from potential closure in the future.

It comes after Mr Bailey told concerned residents the station would be saved from the axe after speaking with local officers at a Tipton Town Board meeting.

However, both the commissioner and West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford then released statements claiming the station's future has not been settled.

In response, Mr Bailey penned a public letter to the Chief Constable accusing him of exposing his own officers to public ridicule and leaving Tipton residents confused about their local cop shop's future.

The MP claimed the Chief Constable refused to take his calls and 'dignify him with a conversation" and demanded a face-to-face meeting "urgently" about the future.

Mr Foster has now blamed Mr Bailey for causing confusion by making "inaccurate and misleading statements".

During the meeting on Tuesday, he said hundreds of police stations had closed as a result of a "decade of reckless cuts" by the Government.

And Mr Foster suggested that if the MP wanted to save Tipton Police Station, he should join his campaign to ensure fair funding for West Midlands Police.

Speaking during the meeting, Mr Foster said: "As a consequence of inaccurate and misleading statements, on the part of the MP for West Bromwich West, confusion has been caused, relating to Tipton Police Station.

"Following a decade of reckless cuts, imposed on policing up and down the country, by the MPs own government, well over 600 police stations have been forced to close.

"These reckless cuts were all supported by, voted for and implemented by the MP’s own government.

"In February 2018, over five years ago, a decision was made by the then chief constable, based on his impartial and independent assessment, that Tipton Police Station was ‘surplus estate’, within the West Midlands Police Estates Programme.

"We lost 2,221 police officers, many hundreds of essential police staff, including up to 400 PCSOs. As a consequence of the MP’s own government’s actions, community policing was dismantled. The Estates Programme was part of a strategy, to prevent the loss of even more police officers.

"As a consequence of ill-advised, misconceived and poor decision making on the part of the MP’s own government, Tipton Police Station remains at risk of closure in autumn 2025. Until then, the police station remains open and I will keep the police estate under constant review."

He added: "In 2023, West Midlands Police was allocated the fifth worst police grant settlement in the country, was forced to make cuts of £28 million this year and faces a further £28 million of cuts next year, because the Government has failed to deliver fair funding for the West Midlands.

"If the MP genuinely wants to save Tipton Police Station, I would urge him to join my campaign to reform his own government’s deeply flawed police funding formula, that costs West Midlands Police £40 million a year, so as to ensure fair funding for West Midlands Police."

In response to Mr Foster's remarks, Mr Bailey called for him to resign.

He said: "Simon Foster and his party have spent 12 years destroying policing in the West Midlands.

"We all struggle with resources, it's about priorities. Their priorities seem to be Lloyd House [The force's Birmingham headquarters].

"Simon Foster needs to consider whether he should be PCC.

"I have no confidence in him. He should do the decent thing and resign."