Last updated on October 20th, 2023 at 08:51 pm
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThat is the bold claim of the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner, Mr John-Paul Campion, who just happens to be a Conservative.
What is he referring to?
He is talking about his bid to incorporate Fire and Rescue Services in his portfolio.
For 3 months he hosted a poll on his website asking the public if they supported him taking over responsibilty for Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire Fire Authorities under his PCC Umbrella, claiming that he could save £4 Million
MORE than 60 per cent of people are in favour of the region’s police and crime commissioner taking over the fire service, a consultation has revealed.
Let’s examine this claim.
The population of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire is a tad more than 1 million people. If this claim has any credibility it must mean that >600,000 people have taken part in the survey and support the proposal. Yes?
Well, erm, NO actually.
Just over 1,300 people took part in the survey and 61% of them supported the idea. If my abacus is working correctly that would be about 870 people then. The vast majority of the people did not even support the poll, never mind the proposal.
Acuurate and truthful facts are all I want to hear from my PCC, not spin reminiscent of the kind coming out of the Conservative Party much of the time. By my reckoning less than 0.1% of the relevant population have actively supported the proposal, not 60%.
I am sure before such a radical step is taken the PCC would like to follow the principle that the Government has set for an electorate taking radical action. So over 50% of the eligible electorate would have to vote yes to the proposal as in Trade Union strike ballots, therefore over 500,000 Yes votes would be needed.
He’s a fully paid up member of May’s Marauders so I guess he’ll do it his/her way