The UK home secretary is reportedly planning changes to the number of forces across the UK

Questions about whether Wales will end up with a single Wales-wide police force were raised in the Senedd. The UK Government Home Secretary is reported to be considering slashing the number of forces across England and Wales.

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Shabana Mahmood has said the number of areas being reduced from 43 to as low as the “mid teens” over time. Questions were raised with the Welsh Government about whether that would mean Wales could have one single force, as in Scotland, rather than the four there currently are.

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Jane Hutt, the social justice minister in Wales, was asked by Plaid Cymru MS Adam Price what discussions had taken place with the UK Government. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here

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“These changes that have been reported across several media, and presumably on the basis of a briefing, would represent the biggest upheaval and reform of police forces since the 1960s,” he said.

“I’m not clear—maybe if the Cabinet Secretary could help us in this regard—if there have been any discussions to date in relation to the proposal to create integrated forces and the creation, for example, of a single Welsh police force.

“When the announcements on police and crime commissioners were made, effectively, if I can paraphrase, you told us that you were told but you weren’t consulted. Would you expect to be consulted before the White Paper is published on a proposal that is as significant as this?”

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Ms Hutt said she was due to meet the policing partnership board on Wednesday (December 17) but that “unconfirmed reports and speculation are unhelpful”.

While Ms Hutt spoke of”partnership” with the UK Government, that was questioned from within her own party.

Labour backbencher Alun Davies said: “If there was any real partnership, Cabinet Secretary, you wouldn’t have been placed in this invidious position this afternoon.

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“This is the second time in two months where you’ve had to field questions from members where this parliament has been placed in a situation whereby it’s discussing hearsay on one of the fundamental public services.

“This simply isn’t good enough.”

He said policing should be devolved to Wales. “It is time that the UK Government didn’t simply recognise a distinct pattern in Wales and actually bit the bullet and devolved policing. That needs to happen.

“We certainly don’t want to see the nationalisation of policing that’s just been proposed by the Conservatives. We’ve never had a national police force in the United Kingdom.

“We don’t want one today. What we want is a devolved Welsh police force responsible to Welsh communities, and the sooner the better.”

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