Just when will Swindon discover if it is to become a city?

Certainly nobody in the Govern-ment's Home Office appears able to tell us.

It had hinted that the announcement would be made over the New Year. They were then told it may be put off until the summer.

But still there is no word and, as officials shuffle bits of paper in Whitehall, Swindon and 37 other towns across the country are left waiting and wondering.

The Government set up the competition to name two new cities as part of its celebrations for the new millennium.

But the latest information to come from the Home Office is that the decision may not even be made this year.

Civil servant Tess Tinker said: "We do expect it to be within this year but we still have no date to give you for an announcement."

City status raises the international status of towns, as well as entitling them to apply for extra national and international grant aid for development programmes.

Other contenders for city status include Wolverhampton, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Brighton, but Swindon's nearest rival is Reading.

Political leaders today condemned the delays in making the decision.

South Swindon MP Julia Drown said: "It now looks as if it will be the year's end rather than the year's beginning which was when we hoped the announcement would be made.

"I hope it is worth waiting for and that Swindon will be a city for the new millennium.

"Perhaps the Queen and Jack Straw believe the millennium starts in 2001 instead of having started this year.

"I still hope we will make it as a city and it can't be long now."

North Swindon MP Michael Wills said: "I think Swindon's case is outstanding and I don't know why it is taking so long."

Swindon Council leader Sue Bates (Lab, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst) added: "The delay is ludicrous.

"I feel the Government has had plenty of time to sort this one out.

"There are going to be winners, there are going to be losers, and the Government needs to get its act together and sort it out so people can concentrate on other things."

There was uproar in March when a leaked Home Office report was found to contain derogatory comments about Swindon.

The town was dismissed as materialistic, lacking in history and not having enough of a sense of community.

Local VIPs queued to dismiss the comments as nonsense.

Sue Bates called them "a load of codswallop". She said that the town was being labelled materialistic simply because it enjoyed a strong economy.