Bournemouth, Crime, Political | Posted on November 19th, 2025 | return to news

Bournemouth MP welcomes Police and Crime Commissioner cuts

Jessica Toale, Labour MP for Bournemouth West, has welcomed plans to abolish the role of Police and Crime Commissioners by 2028.

Last week, the government announced plans to abolish the role of elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) by 2028 in order to save £100m and fund 320 extra police constables.

Local MP Jessica Toale, the Labour MP for Bournemouth West, has welcomed the plans, although she is also pressing the government for a reform of the police funding formula so it is fairer and addresses the region’s problems.

Speaking in Parliament on Thursday 13 November, Toale praised the work of Dorset PCC David Sidwick, saying they had worked well together across party lines and that she recognised his commitment to the local area.

However, David Sidwick has criticised the plans, calling the announcement “beyond disappointing.”

The government claims that cutting the PCC role will reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and save the taxpayer £100 million over this parliament, with some of these savings reinvested into new frontline policing.

While Toale welcomed the plans, she called on the police minister to change the police funding formula, which she says fails Dorset in two critical ways.

She said in the House of Commons: “Not only does it fail, as the honourable member for North Dorset says, on rurality. It also fails on the summer seasonal pressures that my constituency, Bournemouth West, faces, where upwards of 10 million people visit every summer.”

Toale added: “PCCs were introduced as an experiment, but public understanding has remained incredibly low. Cutting this bureaucracy and reinvesting the savings into frontline officers is the right decision.

“But we also need to fix the broken funding formula. Bournemouth faces unique pressures every summer when millions of visitors arrive, and our police need the resources to cope with that demand. I’ll keep making that case in Parliament until we get a fairer deal for Dorset.”

In response, Policing minister Sarah Jones said that the funding formula allocations will be announced before the end of the year, and the government will also be announcing a major programme of reform.