The end of the PCC: Who will scrutinise Merseyside Police from now on?

Dear readers — back in November, the government made a big announcement. From 2028, they would be abolishing the role of Police and Crime Commissioner, instead giving those powers to mayors across the country. The news came as a surprise – not just to you and me, but to the commissioners themselves. They’d received no prior notice of the decision, nor any consultation to establish whether the move was a good or bad idea.

The government said the decision was motivated by cost-cutting, and that the commissioners hadn’t fulfilled their role of offering greater accountability in policing. They said the abolishment would save around £100m of public money. Never one to trust the powers that be, The Post has taken a closer look at the numbers, and whether Police and Crime Commissioners are really as insignificant as they have been made out to be.

All that and more in the first Answers in The Post of 2026. But first — your Post briefing.

Your Post briefing

Former Liverpool forward Kevin Keegan has been diagnosed with cancer. Signed as a 20-year-old midfielder by legendary Reds boss Bill Shankly, Keegan was converted to a striker alongside John Toshack and went on to score over 100 goals in 323 games, win three First Division titles, and capture two UEFA Cups and the European Cup. He then signed for Hamburg with whom he won European Footballer of the Year twice, and also had spells at Southampton and Newcastle United. After his on-pitch career ended he managed Fulham, England and Manchester City. In a statement, his family said that Keegan “was recently admitted to hospital for further evaluation of ongoing abdominal symptoms” and these investigations “revealed a diagnosis of cancer, for which Kevin will undergo treatment.” Liverpool Football Club said "the thoughts and support of everyone" were with their former player. "All of us at LFC and official former players association Forever Reds send our best wishes to Kevin, his family and friends."

Will Liverpool ever become the “Hollywood of the North”? In an interview with BBC Radio Merseyside, the metro mayor Steve Rotheram has confessed there is a "viability gap" regarding the Littlewoods project, an ambition to turn the former Liverpool Pools building into a film and TV studio site. Despite being on the books since 2017 and the Combined Authority having committed £17 million, the Littlewoods scheme has not progressed, with the mayor even describing it as a “white elephant.” Next month, Liverpool politicians will travel to Downing Street to ask the government for £50 million, and Rotheram also suggested that the Combined Authority and Liverpool City Council could borrow funds towards making the idea viable. Last year, The Post reported on the project and contrasted it with larger and more successful equivalents in Birmingham, Glasgow, Sunderland and Belfast; read all about it here. Until shutting down in November 1994, the 1938 Art Deco building hosted the Littlewoods Football Pools business, which boasted 16 million weekly players at its height. 

And Owen Cooper is the latest actor to deny he is the anonymous Liverpool rapper EsDeeKid. Last month, Hollywood megastar Timothée Chalamet, 30, quashed rumours he was the cult hip-hop star by appearing in a music video alongside him. At the Critics’ Choice Awards this week, Chalamet won Best Actor for his performance in Marty Supreme and asked Cooper if he was EsDeeKid after seeing Cooper’s phone background of late Liverpool FC star Diogo Jota. Cooper, 16, who won Best Supporting Actor for his appearance alongside Liverpool’s Stephen Graham in Adolescence, protested that he does not have a Scouse accent as he is from Warrington and thus could not be the mysterious Liverpool bar-slinger. The hunt for EsDeeKid’s true identity continues. 

In today’s Answers in The Post, we take a closer look at the government’s decision to abolish the role of Police and Crime Commissioners, and scrutinise claims that cutting the position will save £100m.