Most of the results for the first-ever elections for crime commissioners in England and Wales are now in.
The electorate certainly gave the ‘thumbs-down’ to the new £65,000 - £100,000 (depending on population of the area under their control) police commissioners, ‘voting with their feet’ as numerous areas have confirmed turnouts ranging from 13-20%.
In the wake of this historically low voter turnout, the Electoral Commission described it as "a concern for everyone who cares about democracy."
No such negative comments from the Tory ‘big-hitters.’ Home Secretary Theresa May said, "The police and crime commissioners are visible, they'll be accessible, they've been elected and crucially they will be accountable to people through the ballot box."
PM Cameron said, "Yes, they have a mandate and look, the turnout was always going to be low, when you're electing a new post for the first time."
Hang on a minute, are these not the same people who scream from the rooftops, “No mandate, no mandate!” every time less than 50 per cent of the members of a union vote in favour of industrial action? And are these not the same people who are considering a change in industrial action law to make strikes illegal unless at least half the eligible union members vote in favour?
This hypocritical government could have spent the £100 million on this fiasco of so called elections on 3,000 police constables instead.
