Witney's MP David Cameron wants more powers to be given to local police commanders.

His call for devolution was made during a House of Commons debate on the new Police Reform Bill, which the Government wants to become law by the summer.

The Bill gives the Home Secretary more power and is set to create new community support officers with the ability to stop and arrest suspects.

Mr Cameron said: "What about the Chief Inspector in the Witney nick, or the chief running a basic command unit -- will they be able to get rid of a police officer who is not particularly good at his job?

"That is incredibly difficult. We should be devolving power to police forces down to the basic command unit so that that can happen."

Mr Cameron, who is a member of the House of Commons home affairs select committee, called for changes to the Bill before it becomes law.

He said the concerns about the plans were raised by local officers when he recently met Police Federation representatives and superintendents's leaders at Cowley Social Club.

He added: "This Bill should have started with what is wrong with the police service in this country.

"We cannot keep enough good officers, it's almost impossible to sack bad officers, the ones that we have are strangled with red tape, and there are not enough of them in any event."