Home Secretary Charles Clarke wants the Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland forces to merge.

But Cleveland is resisting a three-way merger, threatening legal action.

The chief constables of Northumbria and Durham, who are in favour of a merger, have disputed the impartiality of the Mori-conducted poll.

'Judicial review'

The poll, carried out on behalf of the Cleveland force, questioned 4,798 people across the three force areas.

Cleveland prefers a smaller, combined force with neighbouring Durham.

The Cleveland Police Authority has said it will seek a judicial review if Mr Clarke does not reconsider his plans.

The Mori poll showed 58% of those questioned strongly agreed that a referendum should take place and a further 24% tended to agree.

Only 17% of respondents wanted a super force to take over the duties currently performed by the three existing forces.

The results prompted Cleveland Police Authority chairman Dave McLuckie to say the Home Secretary had "no mandate to dismantle our local forces".

'Damning' verdict

He said: "This is a damning verdict on both the proposal for a single force and the ham-fisted manner in which the entire review of police structures has been conducted."

The chief constables of Northumbria and Durham, Mike Craik and Jon Stoddart, have written to Cleveland chief constable Sean Price and MORI expressing their concerns about the study.

They are also considering contacting the Market Research Society to see whether the way in which the survey was carried out breached their code of conduct.

Mori research directror Ashley Ames said: "We have taken great care to ensure the wording of the questions is objective and unbiased. Indeed, we are very happy to share details of the questions asked and the respective findings.

"We are confident that there is nothing to give respondents the impression that they are being asked to comment on Northumbria and Durham taking over Cleveland, as has been suggested."