FEARS that the North-East police force at the centre of a long-running corruption inquiry was now facing the axe were dismissed last night.

Labour MP Ashok Kumar had raised worries that the Home Office could move to disband Cleveland Police in the wake of the continuing Operation Lancet corruption inquiry.

Dr Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, raised the possibility after all the officers investigated by the probe, including suspended Detective Superintendent Ray Mallon, were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing after two-and-a-half years of investigation.

Last week's fiasco when a court case against two Cleveland officers accused of stealing a £20 boiler collapsed, with potential costs to the public purse of £500,000, raised his fears further. It has also been suggested elsewhere that the force could be split as part of a wider shake-up of policing in the North - with Hartlepool and Stockton merging with Durham Police and Middlesbrough and Langbaurgh joining the North Yorkshire force.

But last night, Dr Kumar's fellow Teesside Labour MP Frank Cook revealed he had now met Home Office Minister Charles Clarke "face to face" over the disbandment fears.

"It is fair to say that he made clear to me in the strongest possible terms that they are nonsense. The Government has no plans whatsoever to seek the scrapping of the Cleveland Police or its merger with any other force or forces," said Mr Cook, MP for Stockton North.

Mr Cook also robustly defended the position of Cleveland Chief Constable Barry Shaw, who Dr Kumar had called on to resign.

Meanwhile, Home Office advisor Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate also raised the subject of Operation Lancet yesterday in a meeting with Home Secretary Jack Straw.

He said Mr Straw could not discuss the possibility of a public inquiry into the fall-out from Operation Lancet. The Home Secretary's hands are tied because his office is the disciplinary authority for any appeals arising from action taken against officers as part of Lancet