A POLICE and crime commissioner’s move to take control of a fire service looks set to be challenged in the Houses of Parliament.

The expansion of North Yorkshire commissioner Julia Mulligan’s role, which was confirmed by Home Secretary Sajid Javed in June, is set to be the first such move to be scrutinised in Westminster due to its controversial nature.

Mrs Mulligan’s plan had faced a wave of opposition from North Yorkshire County, City of York and six out of seven district councils in the county, members of which had decided the fire service budget. The police commissioner in Essex expanded the role to include the county’s fire service last year, the step had been endorsed by all three local authorities there.

Ahead of Mrs Mulligan’s expanded role passing through parliament to create a statutory instrument, county council officers have been contacted by Liberal Democrat peers seeking documents relating to what critics of the commissioner have dubbed “a takeover”.

The move to expand Mrs Mulligan’s area of jurisdiction has been scheduled to pass through the Houses of Parliament in the coming month.

Councillor Carl Les, chairman of North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Panel, said: “I do understand there will be a challenge in the House of Lords, but I think it will just slow it down, it won’t stop it.”