Police merger delays ‘weak and damaging’
Charles Clarke has condemned as “weak and damaging” the decision to abandon plans for what would have been the first of the government’s police mergers.
The former home secretary said the decision to halt the voluntary merger between Lancashire and Cumbria forces could jeopordise the whole police reform programme.
He warned it could “seriously hamper” the police’s ability to fight terrorism and organised crime, and delay the introduction of neighbourhood policing across England and Wales.
His comments came as the Home Office was forced to deny reports that in abandoning the voluntary merger, it was set to scrap the whole idea of cutting the number of police from 43 forces to just 12.
John Reid, the current home secretary, announced last month that he would not be laying any orders for enforced police force mergers until after the summer recess.
The only one that would go ahead before then was the merger of Lancashire and Cumbria, as they were both in favour of the move, but last night the Home Office announced that some issues could not be resolved between the two.
Minister Tony McNulty had apparently been unable to resolve certain problems, in particular relating to the harmonisation of council tax precepts for the two areas, “in a way that would be satisfactory” to both forces.
“The two forces therefore do not wish to proceed with their voluntary merger,” a Home Office spokeswoman said.
The news comes as a major blow to the police merger plans, and has led to speculation that the entire project is to be scrapped.
However, a spokeswoman told politics.co.uk that no announcement on police mergers was expected any time soon, and highlighted Mr Reid’s statement last month that he wished to “engage in continuing discussion and dialogue” on the issue.
He said discussions would take account of all the concerns about the mergers, which range from cost to fears about a loss of local accountability, but his stance was widely interpreted as the equivalent of kicking the plans into the long grass.
Following the decision to abandon plans for the first voluntary merger, shadow police reform minister Nick Herbert said the government should now consider alternative ways to strengthen forces’ ability to deal with high-level crime.
“This demonstrates the difficulties of mergers and is the beginning of the end for police force mergers,” he said.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg added that the Lancashire and Cumbria decision was a “the nail in the coffin” for the government’s plans.
Proposals to merge police forces were introduced by Mr Clarke following a HM Inspectorate of Constabulary report saying the current system was unsustainable.
It argued that reducing the number of forces would allow them to better concentrate resources on dealing with major crime, while maintaining proper levels of neighbourhood policing.
