The cost of a folly

This blog has really run its course now that these foolish schemes have been shelved. But there is one last item of business.

The cost of planning and then aborting the Home Office's proposals for police force mergers could be more than £11.5 million, it has emerged. A survey carried out by The Daily Telegraph has found that an average of £268,668 was spent by each police authority on developing plans to amalgamate with neighbouring forces. It comes on top of the Home Office's own costs, which are reportedly more than £1 million.

Who pays? Why you do, and we do.