JOHN Reid yesterday signalled that the controversial merger of Wiltshire Police will be shelved because of the wider crisis engulfing the Home Office.

The new Home Secretary said he was not convinced the police restructuring journey was right.

Speculation is now rife that he will shelve the mergers for at least 12 months while he grapples with the Home Office's crisis-hit Immigration and Nationality Directorate.

The Home Office has had a week of turmoil, which has seen senior civil servants pilloried for not knowing how many illegal immigrants there are in Britain, and upheaval with ministers swapping posts.

Revelations of how many prisoners absconded from Leyhill open prison in Gloucestershire also caused shockwaves.

Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced the proposals for every area except the south west prior to being sacked in Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet shake-up.

The Home Office has previously said that either one or two strategic forces in the south west should be formed to tackle terrorism, organised crime and drug-running.

But Mr Reid appears to be less enthusiastic about the plans than his predecessor. He yesterday told the Home Affairs Select Committee: "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."

Only hours earlier, his deputy, Police Minister Tony McNulty, also hinted that merger plans will be put on the back burner.

Speaking in a Parliamentary debate, he said: "Dr Reid does reserve the right, as a new Secretary of State in place, to take a look at things like timetables and all the other elements that go with it."

The region's police chiefs have all opposed merger plans.

Wiltshire Police has said it wants to remain independent but part of a strategic alliance with Gloucestershire and Dorset.

Factfile

SWINDON has held its place in the bottom third safest places in Britain, according to the latest crime figures.

Conservative think-tank Reform has released rankings of major English towns and cities according to serious crime including murder, theft and gun offences.

Swindon ranked 39th in murders, with two offences, or 1.29 per 100,000 residents.

It was towards the bottom of the table for assaults at 51st out of 57, with 1,862 offences in 2005.

It had the same ranking for burglary, with 1,736 offences.

It ranked 42nd with 196 robberies and 36th with gun crime, with 18 offences.