BTP Scotland merger doubt

Plans to merge the British Transport Police (BTP) in Scotland with the country’s national police force may not now go ahead.

Reports suggest that Police Scotland’s new chief constable, Iain Livingstone, is opposed to the merger - as are trade unions and officers of both police forces.

A report in The Times on August 19 claimed that senior police officers have told ministers that the merger would generate no benefits and pose “several serious risks”. There are also concerns about merging computer systems and the pensions liabilities of BTP staff.

Justice Minister Humza Yousaf is said to be pondering plans to make the BTP accountable to the Scottish government, but with operations not being merged into Police Scotland. Shadow Justice Secretary Liam Kerr said: “The merger plans are deeply unpopular, and opposed by officers, unions, train operating companies and passenger groups. The SNP government now needs to make clear exactly what it intends to do.”

In a blog published in June, the chairman of the British Transport Police Federation, Nigel Goodband, said that work to replan the integration “appears to be a hollow PR exercise dressed up as a rigorous review…. It’s looking like integration at all costs, including that of public safety.”

He added that Police Scotland would have to be ready from the day of the merger - if it happens - to deliver railway policing, and said: “We strongly believe they will be tasked to deliver the undeliverable. If full integration is pitched to Ministers as being viable, it will be an absolute travesty and it seems the BTP Federation are the only ones willing to say so.”

The merger was due to take place in April 2019 but has been postponed until issues, primarily around the information technology systems, can be resolved. Proposals for a new date may be announced sometime in the next month.