Liz Truss has said the police should spend more time “investigating real crimes” not “Twitter rows and hurt feelings”.
The frontrunner in the Tory leadership race said if she becomes prime minister she would publish police league tables while asking forces to slash serious crime by 20%.
Truss said her government would tell police to cut homicide, serious violence and neighbourhood crime by a fifth by the end of this parliament.
She would release crime rate statistics showing how each force is performing against the national average, with leaders of underperforming ones forced to set out plans to improve.
Truss also said she wants every domestic burglary to be attended by a police officer in person.
“It’s time for the police to get back to basics and spend their time investigating real crimes, not Twitter rows and hurt feelings,” she said.
“People can trust me to deliver and these league tables will help hold the police to account – making our streets safer and our country more prosperous.”
The foreign secretary said she would give police and crime commissioners more powers to “veto training that focuses on identity politics”.
A campaign source said Truss would hold chief constables “feet to the fire” to ensure forces were “cracking down” on serious crime.
A campaign spokesperson for Rishi Sunak said: “A lightweight plan based on publishing data the Government already does and a power grab away from Police and Crime Commissioners, including many excellent Conservative PCCs driving down crime in their area.
“The real way to get crime down is more police on the streets, which is why Rishi Sunak has prioritised funding to get these 20,000 new officers by the next general election.”