Home Office

1. Since 2017, I have written to home secretaries, reporting to them the conduct of the police. When there has been a response, it has been that the Home Office cannot act because it must respect the independence of the police.
2. The independence of the police is important; we would not want the Government to stop legitimate investigations or to use the police to harass people through unwarranted investigations. But independence of the police is not licence for the police to act with impunity, to be involved in offences or to ignore them.
(i). The Home Office is responsible for the police and must hold it to account. The law recognises this - Section 40 of the Police Act 1996. I explained that point to home secretaries. They returned no response to that point.