Call for clarity over police mergers
July 13, 2006 5:59 PM
Cllr Javaid Akhtar (Lib Dem, Gipton and Harehills) has welcomed indications that government plans for police force mergers will be scrapped but has called for greater clarity on the issue from the government.
Yesterday, home office minister Tony McNulty was quoted* as saying that the mergers had been "definitively" scrapped. Later in the day however, at Prime Minister's Questions Tony Blair seemingly contradicted this statement by saying that mergers were "not off the agenda".
Cllr Akhtar, a member of West Yorkshire Police Authority welcomed the apparent u-turn but demanded that the government spell out its position.
Cllr Akhtar said:
"On the face of it this is a victory for local decision making and a hugely embarrassing climb-down for the government.
"The plans were flawed right from the start and in the end were being pursued for purely ideological reasons, against the wishes of local communities and the police forces themselves.
"A merger involving West Yorkshire police would have guaranteed severe upheaval to one of the best performing forces in the country, no likely improvement to local policing and higher bills for West Yorkshire taxpayers. It is a huge relief that this won't be now going ahead.
"However, there does seem to be a contradiction between what the Home Office is saying on the one hand and what the Prime Minister is saying on the other. What we need now is a clear statement from the government that we have seen the back of these ill-considered proposals once and for all."
- Quoted in The Guardian, 12th July 2006 Government scraps police merger plan
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