Police Commissioner blames poll process

Tony Lloyd - the new Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester’s first Police and Crime Commissioner wasted no time is making his feelings known about the election process that put him in place.

Former Labour MP Tony Lloyd (62) strongly attacked the way the Government introduced and ran the PCC elections; criticisms echoed by the Electoral Commission which has called for an investigation.

“I won the vote in every district across Greater Manchester,” he said. “I stood for this election, I won it, and people in Oldham would be appalled if I wasn’t to use that mandate in their interest.

“But central government — David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Theresa May — have to look in the mirror and say they got it very badly wrong.

“They set up a new role without explaining why they had done it, they gave powers to the commissioner and didn’t tell the public what those powers were, they had an election in the middle of November, and they brought in a ballot paper which has caused more spoiled ballot papers than I think I have ever seen in an election.

Competent
“They should be ashamed of themselves and recognise they have been stupidly incompetent.”

But he was more complementary about the people he will be working with in his £100,000-a-year role.

He said: “People who think that I am going to be a new super chief constable are wrong. There is a perfectly good chief constable and professionally competent police officers who I want to work with.”
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