WEST Mercia Police Auth-ority has vowed not to lie down in the battle against being merged into a West Midlands superforce.

It says it will not meet the Friday, February 24, deadline to voluntarily amalgamate with the other constabularies in the region.

Both West Mercia's chief constable and its police authority chairman ex-pressed dismay at a meeting yesterday that the Home Office had not produced clear evidence that a merger was justified.

Paul West, the chief constable, said: "In my humble estimation a merger is not supported by any sustainable argument. It's arbitrary and it's flawed." At the meeting, authority members agreed unanimously not to voluntarily merge and force a full-scale consultation and parliamentary debate.

Authority vice-chairman Alan Thompson said the merger contradicted Tony Blair's stated desire to listen to local opinion.

He said: "We live, I think, in a democratic society but what we are being told to do is as if we are living in a dictatorship. We can only do what we are told to do.

"Who do we budget for? Are there going to be dismissals? We don't know, nobody's come up with anything." The authority's accountants say the set-up costs for a merged force would be £52m, but the Government was only offering £14m and West Mercia had received no information about how this was to be squared with its council tax precept.

Paul Deneen, the authority's chairman, said parliament should now discuss the proposals. He said: "We have a duty to ensure that we protect our communities and maintain all that is good about West Mercia. We have dedicated and committed police officers and excellent leadership. We need to be totally reassured that, in the event of any merger, what will result will lead to better and improved policing and, as a top performing force, I have real worries about performance delivery and the disruptions."

Following the authority's decision, it is now likely that Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, will have to get his decision approved by the House of Commons later this year.