Conservative Cabinet minister Francis Maude previously said that official trade union strike ballots with a turnout of fewer than 20 per cent of union members should be banned for lacking democratic legitimacy.

With a turnout in the police and crime commissioner elections of less than 15 per cent (13 per cent in the Thames Valley) shouldn’t that mean, by the Government’s own standards, that these elections be declared null and void for lacking democratic legitimacy?

It is a huge embarrassment for David Cameron that his flagship policy, the centrepiece of his Government’s reforms, has collapsed. Most people remain baffled that he spent £100m of taxpayers’ money on these elections while cutting police funding by 20 per cent.

Perhaps Mr Cameron will surprise us all by listening to the British people and abandon his plans to part-privatise vital police roles. Enough is enough.

Andrew Coles (Cllr) Labour, Witney Central Ward, West Oxfordshire District Council