HOME Secretary John Reid has told a Swindon MP he has little hope Wiltshire Police will remain independent.

He has not yet announced plans for the force to merge but he told South Swindon MP Anne Snelgrove standing alone was not an option.

She asked Mr Reid to keep Wiltshire a solitary force and not push through a merger creating either one or two strategic forces in the south west to tackle terrorism, organised crime and drug-running.

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

This has been known as the sausage' option because of the geographical shape of the area.

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.

Mrs Snelgrove, told Mr Reid that although Wiltshire constabulary was too small to respond adequately to major incidents, crime levels in Swindon and Wiltshire remained the lowest in the country.

She said: "Any proposed changes would need to satisfy me that local policing would continue to improve, and that neighbourhood policing would be a major area of expansion in order to tackle anti-social behaviour and petty crime."

In his letter the Home Secretary said what was clear is that the status quo is not an option but said he would engage in more discussion with police forces and police authorities about the controversial merger plans before he confirmed Wiltshire would be part of a bigger force.

Mr Reid said Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabularies report, called Closing the Gap clearly identified weaknesses in the quality of provision for serious crime and terrorism in large parts of the country He added: "It is clear that the approach which we are following commands the support of most chief constables.

"I remain convinced, as do HMIC, that the best way to address these weaknesses is through the creation of strategic police forces, which will both have the resilience to cope with this kind of crime but will still remain committed to local neighbourhood policing.

"However, Tony McNulty and I have already begun a round of discussions with police forces, police authorities and local authorities to discuss the issue of police force restructuring and it has become clear that there would be very real value in continuing those discussions."

Mr Reid told MPs this week he had postponed decisions on the mergers until the autumn.

The Home Office has made it clear that the proposals to slash the number of police forces from 43 to 17 is still on the agenda.