Police to buy thousands of foreign vehicles in £34m deal

CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT MINISTERS are under fire for allowing a multi-million pound contract for thousands of new police vehicles to be handed to foreign car firms which will build them outside the UK.

The deal is the first time that so many police forces have joined together to buy cars to try to secure a cheaper deal for taxpayers.

It will see Ford, Peugeot, BMW and Vauxhall provide 3,000 new vehicles worth tens of millions of pounds for more than half of Britain’s police forces over the next two years.

Police forces said they were powerless to offer the contracts to British car factories because European Union procurement rules meant they had to go to the cheapest bidder.

Mike Penning, the policing minister, said he would examine whether more could be done to encourage British police forces to buy British-made cars.

The news has come just as the Metropolitan Police – the country’s biggest force – is running its own procurement process to replace thousands of police vehicles.

The multi-force deal – worth £34million – was announced by West Yorkshire police, which led the negotiations. Buying in bulk saved the forces £5million. The main vehicle supply contract was awarded to Peugeot, while Vauxhall was awarded a separate deal to supply vans.

It includes Peugeot’s 208 and 308 cars, and its Partner vans, which are made in France, and BMW’s 3 and 5 series cars, which are made in Germany.

Also included in the deal are BMW X5s, made in Spartanburg, USA, and Ford Kugas, made in Valencia, Spain.

The only British-made cars in the deal are Astra 1.6litre diesels, made by Vauxhall in Ellesmere Port, and Vivaro vans, made in Luton.

The 22 forces involved include British Transport Police, Cleveland, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Police Scotland, South Wales, Surrey, Sussex and West Yorkshire.

Labour criticised the decision, pointing out that police in France and Germany were never seen driving around in British-made vehicles.

Jack Dromey, the shadow policing minister, said: “The Government is guilty of a lamentable failure to use taxpayers’ money to buy British for British bobbies.

“No French police minister would ever buy British cars for French gendarmes. Buying British would also boost British manufacturing.”

Britain is the fourth largest vehicle manufacturer in the EU, producing 1.6million cars and commercial vehicles every year.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council, which sets forces’ policy on policing matters, said that it could not choose British manufacturers over foreign ones because of EU procurement rules.

David Wilkin, who speaks for the council on vehicle procurement, said: “The vehicle purchase consortium contract was awarded after suppliers were invited to bid under European procurement laws.

“The award criteria looked at the whole-life cost of vehicles rather than just the purchase price; taking into account ongoing costs such as fuel usage and servicing to ensure police forces get the best value for money.”

Mr Penning pledged that more forces would combine in the future on large procurement programmes to save money.

He added: “There remains more to do. That is why I have decided to publish key police procurement information on the prices that forces currently pay for the most common items of uniforms and equipment, like shirts, handcuffs, batons and helmets.”