Sussex Police is to merge with Surrey Police in the biggest shake-up of its kind in 40 years, Home Secretary Charles Clarke has announced.

Not since 1967 when borough and county forces merged to form Sussex Police has there been such a radical remodelling.

As with the last changes, this one has its staunch critics.

The Sussex Police Authority (SPA) warned Sussex taxpayers will pay much more while the rank and file Police Federation said it feared police numbers could be cut to meet the cost of the exercise.

Mr Clarke yesterday announced a consultation period ending on August 11 but few believe he will change his mind.

Sussex's 3,100 officers will now line up alongside Surrey's 1,900, probably in 2008. Quite how many officers the new superforce will employ and how many of support staff members will be kept on is yet to be determined.

So, too, is where the new police headquarters will be, what the force will be called and who will be chief constable Sussex's Joe Edwards, Surrey's Bob Quick or neither?

Both forces strongly opposed the marriage and both will now be dragged to the altar by Mr Clarke who is making other forces merge.

He believes fewer and bigger forces are needed to tackle organised crime and terrorism but Sussex favoured a federal system with greater co-operation between forces.

The Home Office said it would foot the merger bill but SPA members fear taxpayers will pay 18 per cent more to equalise taxes paid in Surrey.

Authority chairman Peter Jones said it would mean Sussex taxpayers subsidising richer people in Surrey.

Surrey and Sussex are among the lowest funded and members said the merger would simply create a super underfunded force.

Brian Stockham, federation spokesman, said hidden costs of merging could mean fewer officers. He warned: "We could be sleep-walking to disaster."

Mr Stockham said he did not believe the removal of a border would combat national and regional crimes.

At their meeting on Friday, SPA members refused to merge voluntarily and this obliged Mr Clarke to force the union.

Mr Jones said last night that while the objections remained, the SPA would have to start work on the plan.

He said: "Mr Clarke's proposal remains fundamentally flawed and he has so far failed to respond to our case for a federal model for the South-East region's forces, which we see as a much better alternative. We will now move forward on a twin track approach by the authority and force to seek constructive answers to our key questions on funding and governance to ensure a merger can deliver real policing benefits at a reasonable price."