THE new Home Secretary has been asked to hold a referendum on whether North Yorkshire Police should join a Yorkshire superforce.

Councillors Jim Clark and Fred Willis, who are campaigning against the merger, wrote to John Reid, saying the move is not in the public interest.

The Harrogate Borough Councillors said in their letter that there was growing anxiety about the plan to scrap North Yorkshire Police and replace it with "a more remote superforce".

The call for a public vote on the issue comes shortly after Chief Constable Della Cannings and the North Yorkshire Police Authority wrote to the former Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, inviting him to meet them in the county.

Councillor Clark said: "It is vital that the new Home Secretary is aware of the public's real concerns over the merger in North Yorkshire.

"I hope that Mr Reid will allow the public of the county an opportunity to express their views rather than an unelected authority."

Councillor Willis said the public had made no secret of their unhappiness at being "divorced" from their present police force and were also worried about what impact the creation of a superforce would have on their council tax bills.