"Keep party politics out of policing" - that's the warning from Leicestershire's former police and crime commissioner (PCC) after his successor defected to Reform UK. Rupert Matthews has sparked controversy and calls for a by-election after he announced the move earlier this month .

Mr Matthews, who represented the Conservatives, is now Leicestershire and Rutland's Reform PCC - a move which has sparked backlash from his former party and residents alike. Now his predecessor, Labour's Lord Willy Bach , has hit out at the move and said politics and policing should not be bedfellows.

Saying he was "shocked but not really surprised" by Mr Matthews' defection, Lord Bach added to calls for a by-election . He said: "My Conservative predecessor (Sir Clive Loader) and I agreed that a PCC s

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