Home Secretary John Reid has signalled that the controversial merger of Yorkshire police forces will be shelved or even scrapped because of the wider crisis engulfing the Home Office.

His predecessor Charles Clarke had intended to push through police mergers which would have seen West Yorkshire Police forming a "super-force" with North and South Yorkshire and Humberside.

The move was strongly opposed by the West Yorkshire Force and police authority which wanted to remain independent.

Mr Reid yesterday told a Home Affairs select committee yesterday: "I believe the police restructuring programme should have, at its heart, not an abstract restructuring, but more police on the beat, more accountability and more community control. That restructuring programme is right in that we can't stay at the status quo.

"It's probably right in the destination that we want to go to, but I was not convinced that the journey was the right one."

It is believed the Home Secretary could announce that the mergers will be shelved for at least 12 months as early as tomorrow when he addresses the Association of Chief Police Officers' conference.

Labour MPs have joined police forces and police authorities in demanding a rethink, protesting that there has never been a proper consultation on the effect of the mergers.

Mr Reid, now faced with a big shake-up of the immigration and nationality directorate which he described yesterday as "not fit for purpose", is thought to be reluctant to fight on two fronts simultaneously.

Last night, the chairman of West Yorkshire Police Authority, Councillor Mark Burns-Williamson, said he had written to Mr Reid in the last few days, asking him to look again at the merger proposals.

Coun Burns-Williamson said: "We would see it as a common-sense decision if the new Home Secretary were to decide not to go ahead with the merger.

"We will await with interest what Mr Reid has to say."

Coun Burns-Williamson, along with deputy chairman and Bradford member Councillor Clive Richardson, are in London to attend the ACPO conference.

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