Tory plan for new national police force

Radical plans to create Britain's first national police force were unveiled by the Tories today.

The 15,000-strong Serious Crime Force, dedicated to murders and terrorism, was the centrepiece of reforms that include performance-related pay and an end to form-filling.

Under the plans, the Metropolitan Police would be stripped of its counter-terrorism powers and turned into a local London force focusing on street crime.

The London Mayor, rather than the Home Secretary as at present, would have the power to hire and fire the Met's commissioner.

Shadow police reform minister Nick Herbert said the current 43 separate police forces in England and Wales were no longer viable in their present form.

Instead, the new force would take over national offences such as paedophile crime, road policing, fraud and internet crime. Reforms outlined in the Conservatives' policy paper include:

Paying police more money if they catch more criminals.

A Sandhurst-style police chiefs' college to encourage more graduates.

General purpose "beat bobbies" replaced by specialists.

Measuring police performance by victim satisfaction and sickness absence.

But while serious crime would be handled by the national force, more local forces could be created to deal with all other offences.

Smaller police forces would be set up after referendums of towns and cities.

The new force would mean the Met would lose its current specialisms in counter-terrorism and, as a result, remove the need for the Home Secretary to appoint its commissioner.