UK Police Merger Update

Charles Clarke was accused yesterday of "appalling" handling of proposals to cut the number of police forces in England and Wales from 43 to between 12 and 19.

In an article in The Telegraph, Delay police mergers, the Conservative spokesman on police reform, Nick Herbert, said: "The Home Secretary has lost the support of police authorities and must now put the re-organisation on hold until the implications for cost, governance, accountability and local policing are properly thought through.
"Charles Clarke's handling of the issue has been appalling, driven to an unnecessarily tight timetable and culminating in a clumsy attempt to bully and bribe police authorities into submission."

Association of Police Authorities