Surrey welcomes police mergers delay

According to This is Hertfordshire, Surrey County Council claims merging the Surrey and Sussex forces would cost £27 million and would not address the under-funding of the police force.

Nick Skellett, leader of the council, said: "We should welcome the news this week that the Home Secretary has delayed any decision on the merger of our police force with Sussex. Exactly how long this delay might be, we can only speculate.

"But it gives us the time to ensure residents are aware of the potential consequences of the move and to make sure people have the facts to hand in order to make an informed decision."

Surrey County Council has also raised concerns that any merger with Sussex, which has a higher crime rate than Surrey, might see resources diverted from the county.

So there we are. Everyone loses because the Home Office doesn't want to pay for the merger costs out of central funds.

And people fear they will be losers locally. Rural areas fear they will lose resources to the towns and cities, and areas with lower crime rates fear resources will be diverted to more crime-prone districts.

So who see themselves as likely winners? From the news we've watched on this blog so far - no one, it seems.

Fearful losers and no winners - does this look like good politics?!