High court could overturn plan to scrap police commissioner
The Home Secretary's decision to scrap the role of West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner could be overturned by the courts.
The present commissioner today launched a legal move to block plans to hand his responsibilities to the region's elected mayor.
Last week Home Secretary gave the go-ahead for the two roles to be merged following the mayoral elections in May.
But Simon Foster, who has held the post of commissioner since 2021, has formally applied for a judicial review in the High Court. If his bid is successful, Mr Cleverly's decision will go before a High Court judge who will rule on whether it was legal or not.
Mr Cleverly's decision to scrap the role of commissioner came despite a consultation which found that the public was narrowly against the proposals.
Mr Cleverly gave the go-ahead for the roles to be merged following an application by Andy Street, the Conservative mayor for the West Midlands.
Labour's Mr Foster, accused Mr Street of launching a 'hostile takeover'.
