East Midlands says NO to Regional Police Force

10.28.13am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 12th Apr 2006

East Midlands Liberal Democrats are backing the police in our region and saying 'NO' to the merger of our five County police forces.

'Charles Clarke has announced he is going to ride roughshod over all five Police Authorities in our region and press ahead with a single force stretching from the edge of the Cotswolds to the edge of Manchester' said Cllr. Richard Church, the Chair of East Midlands Liberal Democrats and a member of Northamptonshire Police Authority. 'This re-organisation will cost taxpayers over £100 million pounds, and the Home Secretary is refusing to pick up the bill. That means higher taxes or fewer police throughout the East Midlands.

'The Home Secretary has taken an overbearing, top-down, centralist approach which ignores expert local knowledge from across the political spectrum throughout the East Midlands Region. Tackling crime in local communities is being put under threat by an ill considered proposal that will produce no real savings for at least 6 years, and raises the real possibility of further cuts in local policing, and no evidence of improvement in tackling major cross border crime.'

The East Midlands Liberal Democrat conference recently voted to oppose merger of police forces and to improve the accountability of local policing. Throughout the region, Lib Dems will be collecting petitions calling on the government to think again. We will be backed by Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary Nick Clegg MP, a former Euro MP for the East Midlands, who will be leading the campaign against merger in Parliament. 'We call on every East Midlands MP to use their power to stop this merger in Parliament' concluded Richard Church.