The home secretary has said she no longer has confidence in the chief constable of West Midlands Police after a “damning” report into the force’s decision to ban Israeli football fans from attending a game in the UK.
Shabana Mahmood told MPs a review by a police watchdog into the force showed “confirmation bias” over the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending the match at Villa Park in November.
Ms Mahmood also expressed frustration that she was not able to sack Chief Constable Craig Guildford herself.
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The home secretary does not have the power to hire or fire chief constables as this is now held by elected police and crime commissioners (PCCs) – a role being scrapped by the government.
Ms Mahmood said new statutory powers are planned to allow a home secretary to force the resignation of chief constables on the grounds of their performance.
West Midlands Police has said it will take “immediate action” to rectify problems raised by the police watchdog.
In a statement, the force said it had “received a copy of the preliminary review today and acknowledge that this recognises the unintentional nature of our errors. We are extremely sorry for the impact these have had on individuals and their communities”.
“We are taking immediate action to address the matters raised in these preliminary findings. We know that mistakes were made but reiterate the findings that none of this was done with an intent of deliberate distortion or discrimination.
“West Midlands Police is an anti-discriminatory organisation and our planning for this football match was always about public safety of all communities.
“We continue to focus on protecting the public of West Midlands and improving our services, as we have done relentlessly during the last several years.
“We will now work tirelessly to rebuild confidence in West Midlands Police.”
Meanwhile, Simon Foster, the PCC for West Midlands Police, stopped short of firing CC…
