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Control of Welsh police forces would not be handed over to the Welsh government if Labour wins the UK election, the party's shadow home secretary has said.

Yvette Cooper - who could be in charge of England and Wales's police if Sir Keir Starmer becomes prime minister - said it was important to "keep the links" around policing and crime across England and Wales.

Her position is in contrast to the Labour-led Welsh government, which has long backed the devolution of justice and policing.

The Conservatives said it was "confirmation that the Labour Welsh government is wasting millions of Welsh taxpayers' money on their pet projects".

Plaid Cymru said Labour had "no ambition for justice in Wales".

Policing in Wales is ultimately overseen by the UK government, unlike in Scotland and Northern Ireland where both governments are responsible it.

While both countries have their own systems of law, Wales shares its legal rules with England.

Ms Cooper told ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Wales Breakfast on Wednesday: "We need to keep the links around policing and crime across England and Wales.

"Not least because here in north wales there’s obviously strong links, in terms of what happens in Merseyside has an impact on north wales and so on.

"So you have to have all of those close relationships between police forces."

Ms Cooper accused the Home Office of ignoring Wales, and claimed there were fewer neighbourhood police officers since Labour were in power.

"The Conservative home office has turned its back on Wales, turned its back on Welsh communities," she said.

Home Office figures show that the number of police officers in Wales has increased from 7479 in 2010, when Labour left power, to 8091 in 2023. The number however dipped to a low of 6719 in 2016.

The Welsh government has argued that it could cut the number of people in prison if it had control of law and justice powers.

A previous Labour party report published in 2022 suggested the party could devolve - meaning passing powers to UK countries from Westminster - control over youth justice and probation, but stopped short of calling for full police and court controls to be devolved.

A Welsh Conservative spokesperson said: "Once again this is confirmation that the Labour Welsh government is wasting millions of Welsh taxpayers' money on their pet projects, when in reality they're never going to happen.

"Instead of trying to grab more powers they should be focused on the day job - clearing the backlog of 20,000 people waiting two years for treatment in the Welsh NHS, ending the 50/50 chance of an ambulance arriving in time and scrapping their 20mph speed limit."

They added: "Since 2019, we've recruited nearly a thousand extra police officers for Wales and 20,000 across England and Wales. Compare that to Labour who promised not to cut the number of PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers) in Wales and then did."

Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader, whose party is calling for the devolution of policing, said: "It’s no secret that the Tory UK government has left the criminal justice system in complete crisis.

"A crown court backlog of 67,000, a soaring prison population, and a 20% real terms cut to frontline policing from 2010-2023 says it all.

"But while the Labour Welsh government has been preparing for the devolution of justice and policing for some time, the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper is refusing to engage with her own party’s policies in Wales. It’s clear that UK Labour has no ambition for justice in Wales."