The ink isn't even dry on Labour's latest announcement and yet we can confidently predict it will result in another U-turn. Starmer's latest disaster is to propose restructuring the police forces of England and Wales. The aim is to reduce the number of forces from 43 to 12, then add on top a new 'National Police Service' to deal with counter terrorism, fraud and organised crime. Perhaps Starmer is unaware that we already have the intelligence services - the Serious Fraud Office and the National Crime Agency deal with those things.

This idea isn't even new. It's a rehash of a failed Blair policy from 20 years ago. Labour went down this road in 2006 before performing a handbrake turn and chucking it in the dustbin. According to Police Minister Sarah Jones, this major restructuring was needed because murder and serious crime have fallen whereas everyday low-level crimes are up. If that's the case, why increase regional and national level forces?

Surely that would mean more local policing is needed. The other argument given is that fewer police forces will lead to better buying power, but surely economies of scale and central purchasing can be insisted upon within the current force structures.

Last week, before this announcement, I met with my local Cheshire Police Chief Constable who is looking to increase the number of neighbourhood police officers by 60 to replace up to 60 PCSOs they may have to lose. The reasons were telling. The force needs more bobbies on the beat with the powers of arrest and stop and search - which PCSO's can't do - because the level of crime is increasing.

On top of that, due to Labour's Sentencing Bill, which will stop criminals with sentences of less than 12 months going to prison, our police officers are going to be required to 'man mark' these criminals. This requires extra police officers and will cost the Cheshire force approximately £1.6million a year.

Cheshire are already set to receive £3million less in core grant funding this year than they expected, and they will be losing millions of pounds, like all police forces, due to Rachel Reeves' ill thought through increase in employers' national insurance contributions. The last thing they need is to see resources and officers siphoned off to pay for a pointless reorganisation.

Blair backed down on police restructuring because the downsides overshadowed any upsides. The argument of efficiencies failed because the cost of restructuring greatly outweighed any financial benefits, and the same applies now.

A New National Police Service might sound good but in reality police will become more remote from local people, and people in small towns and villages will be abandoned as police officers get sucked exclusively into the cities.

David Davis, as Shadow Home Secretary, won with these arguments 20 years ago and the Blair government did a U-turn. Unfortunately for Starmer, David Davis is still in parliament, and I see him leading the charge again. Starmer won't even get this past his backbenchers.