Met Police: Pontefract Castleford and Normanton MP Yvette Cooper calls for 'major reforms' following reports of 'seriously damaging' policing

The major review by Baroness Louise Casey found that Britain’s biggest police force is institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic and has failed to protect women and girls from violence.

In her report, Baroness Casey called for “a complete overhaul” of London’s Metropolitan Police and a “new approach to restore public trust and confidence”.

The report was commissioned by the Met after one of its officers, Wayne Couzens, abducted and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has now said that this was “one of the darkest days in the history of our almost 200-year-old Met Police Service” as Baroness Casey claims she could not guarantee that more dangerous men, like Wayne Couzens are not serving in the Met.

The scandals have sparked concerns in other parts of the country and Labour councillors in Wakefield claim that a number of local women have lost confidence in the police.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, said: “Louise Casey’s report is serious and damning. Major reforms are needed in the Metropolitan Police but there are also serious implications for the rest of the country as the report found that policing had been seriously damaged by lack of proper standards and by the Conservative Government’s cuts to neighbourhood policing and that affects all forces.

“We need urgent action to introduce proper national standards and restore neighbourhood policing because otherwise the vital work that police officers do every day to keep us safe is undermined.”

Labour councillors in Wakefield this week called on West Yorkshire Police to introduce a new policy that would ensure that male officers are never left alone with women who have committed, witnessed or fallen victim to a crime.

Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, added: “This review makes for shocking reading and exposes vile behaviour and attitudes that undermine the work of policing across the country - including here in West Yorkshire.“We share Louise Casey’s ambition to protect women and girls from harm and want to work with her to identify how to achieve that in our region and beyond.”