Letter: Shropshire Star

Clarke has contempt for public

I wonder if Home Secretary Charles Clarke knows of a different definition of democracy to the rest of us?

He instructed West Mercia Police to draw up plans for a merger with West Midlands Police without consulting the public or the police forces involved.

When faced with the fact that 88 per cent of people in Weat Mercia are opposed to the merger of the police forces, you would imagine that the plans would be scrapped. This is a democracy after all.

But no, rather than remembering that his job is to serve the people, the Home Secretary said he would wait until he received the results of the police consultation "before deciding how to proceed".

I understand that this is a major blow to the Government's drive to firmly establish regionalisation in England, but how can the Home Secretary even contemplate going ahead with the merger when 88 per cent of the people in West Mercia are opposed to it?

This just shows the utter contempt our so-called elected representatives have for the people they are elected to serve and for the democracy that this country was once so famous for.

Stuart Parr
Telford