West Midlands Police

Debate between Laurence Turner and Shabana Mahmood

Wednesday 14th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

The contents of that letter have now been superseded by Sir Andy Cooke’s august report and findings. I hope that everybody who asserted that there was no problem here, and that everything worked exactly as it should, will now reflect on what they have said and done and give the rest of us confidence that these mistakes will not happen again.

AI is an incredibly powerful tool and has a big role to play in assisting the police, particularly when it comes to sifting through evidence at speed and improving other productivity measures so that they can get on with the job of finding criminals and bringing them to justice. It is important that it is used accurately, does not lead to misleading statements, as we have seen in this case, and protects the validity of evidence, which ultimately has to be strong enough to hold up in a court of law. I will be saying more in just a few weeks’ time in the policing reform White Paper, which will set out the Government’s approach and expectations of the roll-out of AI to policing more broadly.

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

I thank the Home Secretary for her statement. As a Birmingham MP, I have set out on a number of occasions in the Chamber my serious concerns about both the decision and the way in which it was made. It is clear that the chief constable’s position is untenable. I pay tribute to the many police officers who are working hard to make Birmingham safer for all its communities.

However, this decision did not arise in a vacuum. Put simply, if a sufficient professional culture had been followed at every level and by every individual in West Midlands police, this decision would never have been made. Does the Home Secretary agree that there must now be sufficient assurance that other decisions, including those that may not have the same national profile, but are important to my constituents, have not been tainted by a similar failure of process? If the chief constable resigns or is removed, does she agree that measures must be put in place to ensure that the highest operational standards are maintained for everyone in Birmingham?

[Shabana Mahmood]

I thank my fellow Birmingham Member of Parliament for his comments and questions. There is no broader finding of systemic failure in Sir Andy’s report. The failures that have been highlighted in the approach to evidence and the way in which the risk assessment was carried out relate to this specific event. He gave us no cause for concern about broader West Midlands police practice. However, I am sure that the police and crime commissioner and others, myself included, and all Birmingham MPs will want to assure themselves of the robustness of the procedures that the West Midlands police have in place. I am sure that we will return to these matters as this case develops further.

Courts and Tribunals: Sitting Days

Debate between Laurence Turner and Shabana Mahmood

Wednesday 5th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

The principle of local justice is incredibly important to this Government and we will endeavour to ensure that it is at the heart of all our proposals and changes. We have also increased recruitment to the magistracy.

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

I welcome today’s announcement. Recruitment and retention challenges have limited access to justice in recent years. Will the Lord Chancellor outline what steps she is taking to ensure that we have enough barristers and solicitors so that courts can get through as many cases as possible?

[Shabana Mahmood]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise the availability of lawyers. That is why the Government have already increased criminal legal aid by up to £92 million and increased the number of prosecutors. We will be bringing forward more changes in the upcoming victims Bill to increase the availability of certain types of lawyers to do prosecution work.