Plea for calm as police pay fury grows

Dec 14 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

POLICE Federation officials on Merseyside called for calm yesterday amid declarations by national officials that they were now “at war” with the Government over its defiant stance on pay.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown launched a staunch defence of the policy saying it was necessary to stage a police 2.5% pay deal to restrain inflation.

His response prompted an immediate reaction from hundreds of members of the Metropolitan Police Federation who called for the resignation of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

Officials accused the Government of “trampling on police officers’ well-being”, and said it had goaded them into doing the “previously unthinkable” – contemplating the right to take industrial action.

The Government is now facing a ballot in which every officer in Britain will be asked whether they want the right to strike.

However, Ian Leyland, of Merseyside’s Police Federation, warned against backing Home Secretary Jacqui Smith into a corner and said the idea of local police officers going on strike was as abhorrent as ever.

He said the resignation call was unprecedented and the only way for the matter to be resolved was for both sides to take a step back from their entrenched positions and discuss the matter calmly.

He said: “I don’t remember such a call by the Police Federation being made previously but I also don’t remember a Home Secretary who has betrayed the police service in the way that this Home Secretary has.

“She should not underestimate the sense of betrayal and the sense of disgust that our colleagues have.

“They have no confidence and no trust in her to be able to negotiate our pay and conditions in future.”

He added: “It is alien to police officers to want to go on strike and we certainly will never do that in Merseyside.

“There is no way any one of our officers would ignore a call for help if someone had been attacked or raped. We would never ever do that. We must now open dialogue and reach a solution.”

The angry reactions came after a disclosure that “ideas” being put forward on Merseyside included a work-to-rule which could lead to officers refusing to police Liverpool and Everton games. One senior police source said the move could “bring the Premiership to a halt”.

The ballot on possible strike action is likely to take place early next year and will be conducted among officers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Scottish officers have been awarded the full 2.5% by the Scottish Executive but have stood shoulder to shoulder with colleagues south of the border.

The Police Federation said protest rallies would take place in London and Redditch – the Home Secretary’s constituency – in coming weeks.

carolineinnes