Letwin promises 40,000 extra police

Oliver Letwin will today demand far-reaching reforms to police forces with elected local sheriffs and 40,000 extra officers.

He will use his speech at the Tory conference to set out plans for a National Police Bureau to take over responsibility for homeland security and tackling organised crime.

He will insist that the proposals could be funded by reforming the asylum system to introduce a quota of refugees which could be allowed into Britain every year.

The package of reforms would amount to a major reduction in the powers of the Home Office. It was set to win Mr Letwin a warm welcome in Blackpool, even though his views on law and order are more liberal than those of many grassroots Tories.

Mr Letwin pointed to a rise in the annual cost of asylum from £400 million when Labour came to power to £1.8 billion today. He insisted his asylum proposals could produce enough savings to pay for the big increase in police officers.

Under the Tory blueprint, police authorities would be broken down into smaller units. Each would be granted more independence from the Home Secretary to introduce different styles of policing in their own areas.

The authorities would be democratically elected and each would be headed by a "sheriff". Mr Letwin believes the reforms would introduce a welcome variation in styles of policing around the country.

Ahead of his speech, he said: "There already are different styles of policing in this country. Police authorities have some powers, chief constables have some powers, the Home Secretary has some powers, and nobody really knows who is running what."

Meanwhile, Steve Nor ris launched his bid for London Mayor today with a pledge of tougher action on law and order. He promised a complete overhaul of the way the Metropolitan Police operates.

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