So will the plans actually come to pass? Even though the government has a mega majority, given the number of wobbles, and the longer and longer list of plans that have been ditched, it is a valid question to ask any time major changes pop up.
And scrapping a couple of dozen forces was “very, very bruising last time round” for Labour, one insider says.
There is a crucial difference this time.
Senior police officers, including Sir Mark Rowley, who argued for these changes on our programme months ago, are largely on board. The rank and file may take a very different view.
The Police Federation questions what a reorganisation will do for morale among overworked officers, and whether the proposed changes will make a difference, telling us: “The case for change is clear, but police leaders’ track record on big change is dismal. Fewer forces doesn’t guarantee more or better policing for communities.”
When it comes to licences, the federation is particularly aggrieved saying doctors and lawyers “have industrial rights that police officers don’t have and are also far higher paid”.
“Minsters have used the analogy of making police officers ‘match fit’. Policing is broken and officers are on their knees, not match fit,” it said.
“The service is the most inexperienced it’s been in living memory, resignations, assaults on officers and mental health sickness absence are all at record levels.”
The plans are also likely to take years to come into force. Mergers will start with that government classic, a consultation, in the hope that broad consensus can be found rather than a clash. Wise, perhaps.
But it means the possible changes are many years away, and have a long journey through Parliament where there could be big fights that could turn ugly. And there is a challenge for the home secretary to make the argument that shows these huge changes will make any real difference to people’s lives.
No-one ever daubed “POLICE REFORM NOW” on a placard.
Even one source who backs the plans is sceptical. “There’s zero political reward, and high political risk… Will the next home secretary think in a few years time, ‘Well, this is all a bit awkward?'”
But other observers reckon this is exactly the kind of big move a government with an enormous majority should make – an important structural change that might not win punter-friendly plaudits but will update and modernise an outdated public service.
Mahmood’s fans reckon she can’t – and won’t – waste any time. The home secretary might not have a cricket bat under the counter these days, but she seems up for a fight.