Labour Party Police and Crime Commissioner driving a confiscated vehicle.

West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner and Labour Party councillor, Mark Burns-Williamson uses a high-powered Audi A4 as a 'pool' vehicle after it was seized from a criminal.

Assets seized as part of the Proceeds of Crime Act are usually sold off with half of it going to the Treasury.

But Burns-Williamson, who earns £100,000 a year, is campaigning for forces to keep all the cash.

A councillor in Huddersfield said the high-value Audi A4 should be sold and the money ploughed into local policing.

Almondbury's Lib Dem Councillor Phil Scott discovered the car deal when the commissioner arrived at a supermarket drop-in session in the Audi.

The silver car is seven years old and would have cost £25,000 when new.

Speaking at a full Kirklees Council meeting Cllr Scott said: 'This vehicle should be sold and the money spent on local policing in communities.

'Use the money to buy a more economical car, fair enough, but do not go around in high-powered cars.'

He later said: 'When we have police stations in a poor state used only for meal breaks then every penny counts.

'This is a commissioner who is calling on the Government to give us more of the assets we get from POCA and I agree with him.

'I accept that he will need a car, so let's get a cheaper car. Who is insuring this high-powered vehicle, who is paying the tax and who is the legal owner?

'He's a nice guy but he's slipped up here, he's on £100,000 a year and I don't think this is appropriate.'

Cllr Ken Smith, a Kirklees member of the Police Crime Panel, said at this week's full council meeting: 'It's as broad as it is long.

'The money might go to hire or buy a new car, or you can cut out those transactions and just use the car.'

The PCC is a political appointment elected to oversee each police force.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: 'The PCC uses his own car, but along with all staff working within the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, he has use of a seven-year-old Audi A4 vehicle, which was seized following a forfeiture order against a man who was using the vehicle to deal drugs.'

PCC Mark Burns-Williamson said: 'Re-using the vehicle saves the public a significant amount of money which would otherwise be incurred through business mileage claims or the commercial hire of vehicles.

'This forms part of ongoing efficiency savings to ensure we continue to cost the public less than the previous police authority.''

Final thought.

This car should've been sold off and the money raised should be donated to a worthy cause that would benefit, but no, it just shows the wanton corruption within the Labour Party once again.