A GOVERNMENT minister said yesterday that warnings police forces unwilling to merge voluntarily will receive less money were not intended as "a gun to the head".

Hazel Blears, the government minister for crime, security and communities, spoke to the Argus on a visit to a women's policing conference in Newport yesterday.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke believes an all-Wales force is the best way to police the country - but the Argus is battling to save Gwent Police, a force with an enviable detection record.

Mr Clarke had given the police authorities in Wales until last Friday to agree to a single force.

All four, including Gwent, rejected the plans, citing concerns over the speed of change, funding and community policing. The Home Office has set aside £125 million over the next two years to fund the merger.

But this week Peter Hain's suggestion that there may be extra funding for forces merging voluntarily raised an outcry, with some condemning it as a veiled threat or "leverage" to ensure mergers went ahead.

Yesterday Ms Blears explained the extra money would be for forces merging early to meet extra costs of the scheme's pilot areas.

She said: "Forces merging first will be pioneers and will encounter problems which can be resolved before later forces merge."

But Monmouth MP David Davies says this argument "does not stand up". He said: "Problems and costs will be the same for any forces merging. There will be the costs of redundancies, re-branding, installing new IT systems - so extra money for forces merging voluntarily does seem like a gun to the head.

"More than that, the cost of a merger will far outstrip the money made available. I challenge the Home Office to guarantee they will meet the full cost of this reorganisation."

It is not yet known how the Home Office's £125 million will be divided up. Critics fear there will be a shortfall of millions, some saying the cost of a Welsh merger alone would be £77 million in start-up costs, with an extra £35 million a year to provide "enhanced protective services".

They say council tax-payers will end up footing the bill. But Ms Blears said speculation over cost had involved "wild estimates", and maintains the real cost, though not yet known, will be much lower.