POLICE RESTRUCTURING COSTS

That this House is dismayed by the level of Home Office contribution to police authorities in respect of costs forced upon them and already incurred in preparation for the discredited and now abandoned plans to merge police forces; notes that the Home Office proposes to meet less than two thirds of those costs; considers that the £100,000 cap on individual claims penalises some forces unfairly; fears that this further burden will inevitably lead to weakening the police's ability to fight crime; and calls upon the Home Office to reconsider this decision.