The Home Office has announced that it will repay only £100,000 of the £169,870 the Essex police force claims it spent preparing for the proposed merger with Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire forces which was abandoned by the Government in July.

Commenting on the shortfall, local Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Chris Millington said:

"This is a slap in the face for Harlow taxpayers and the Essex police. £170,000 has been spent in Essex on this harebrained scheme, and now the local police force is not getting anywhere near the compensation it deserves for the unnecessary disruption inflicted on it by the Labour Government.

Harlow residents who strongly resisted the Government's attempt to destroy local policing will now feel even more aggrieved that the local police budget will have to bear part of the cost of this failed Government exercise."

The cost of preparation across the country for the Government's abandoned mergers was £6.5 million - of which the Home Office intends to repay only £4 million.