David Tredinnick congratulated the Home Secretary in the House of Commons on the introduction of elected police commissioners but raised the question of a possible conflict of interest:

 26 July 2010:

Policing in the 21st Century

David Tredinnick MP: I congratulate my right hon. Friend on going for it and introducing directly elected commissioners. They have been very successful in other parts of the world, particularly the United States. However, has she thought about the situation that might arise if a directly elected commissioner had one policy and she had another, based on the national interest? How would that situation be resolved?

The Home Secretary, Mrs May: I thank my hon. Friend for raising that prospect. One of the purposes of directly elected commissioners is to be responsive to local needs. Of course it will be necessary to ensure that the collaboration between police forces that I referred to earlier can be undertaken when necessary, and that will also involve ensuring that national policing issues are addressed properly. However, it is not the Home Secretary who should determine what happens in regard to local policing – which is what happened under the Labour Government – but the directly elected commissioners.