KEETCH TACKLES HOME SECRETARY OVER POLICE FORCE MERGERS

4.04.47pm GMT Fri 3rd Feb 2006

Paul Keetch MP talking with local policeman in Bewel Street

Local Lib Dem MP, Paul Keetch challenged the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke MP over police force mergers in a recent debate in the House of Commons.

The MP is against the merger of West Mercia Constabulary with a greater West Midlands Police Force, which would combine West Mercia with Birmingham, Wolverhampton and other urban areas.

Commenting, following the debate, Mr Keetch said:

"This is another example of the Government riding roughshod over local opinion. The West Mercia Constabulary is one of the most effective in the country and the threat of a merger with a regional super force would have a profound affect particularly on local policing in many rural parts of my constituency.

"Rural communities are in danger of losing out because resources will go from relatively low-crime rural areas into high-crime urban areas. The sooner the Home Secretary realises this problem the better." Mr Keetch added.