Yvette Cooper vows to end ‘postcode lottery’ in policing

Cooper added that the new unit would draw up an “agreed performance framework” in consultation with police leaders for measuring how the success or failure of forces should be judged.

She added that forces currently lacked a “clear framework for showing what works, or what needs rapidly to change”.

“The result isn’t just a postcode lottery, it’s a blindfold one, where people don’t even know if they should have got a better response from their local force,” she said.

The government has promised “effective intervention” where forces are shown to be failing – although details of what this means in practice have not yet been set out.

Questioned after her speech about whether she was signalling a return to the targets-driven culture of the Blair years, she replied her proposals were “not about setting arbitrary targets” for forces.

But she said more evidence was required to ensure the “overall missions” of the Starmer government would be delivered, adding her department currently lacked “basic information” required to assess forces.

Cooper also reiterated the government’s desire to boost neighbourhood policing, adding that details of an election promise to boost street policing would be revealed in the coming weeks.

She also confirmed central government funding for police forces would go up next year by around £500m, including a £260m boost to core funding. Forces are also funded locally through council tax, which will be set in the coming months.

A detailed breakdown of the funding allocations for each force next year is expected to be published next month.