I am very annoyed by all this. Police get overtime, they work more they get more. As was reported some months ago, they have the ability to earn considerably more than their basic salary. They also have had above inflation pay awards consistantly in the last decade.

This is not an option open to our Armed forces who work much longer hours, in much more stressful environments, who don't go home every evening. They also start on much lower salaries than a junior police officer and like the police cannot strike. They also have to undertake duties that are not their primary role, firefighting, flood relief, foot and mouth support etc etc.

I completely agree in a fair days pay for a fair days work, but please let us make it a level playing field.

Ben Howard, Stockbridge, Hampshire

The Police should remove Brown's bodyguard. Why bother to protect rubbish?

Frank Leader, Bournemouth,

Take stock of this and look at the figures printed here. The starting pay for a police officer is £21,428 a year. This is below the national average wage which as I understand it is around £25000.
1. The country has just coughed up £24 Billion to save Northern Rock without a strict guarentee that the money will be returned.
2. We learn today that govt mismanagement of MOD properties is costing £28 million pounds a year.
3. We are making payments to families (I don't know the cost) who do not live in this country and never have because their spouse is over here working or has worked here.
4. We have involved ourselves in 2 wars at a huge cost (in spite of not equiping our troops properly).
Ms Smith then says that they have to control the public purse and budget what they can afford. This pay settlement was determeined by an independent body.
This contest is now more about saving face.

nick., Leicester, uk

I fully agree with the police.
However why should they be treated any different to the nurses.
They had this staged award imposed on them equating to 1.9%.
The award was an increase in april and one in november. My partner is a nurse and has just (in november) got the april stage.
They should stand together and get an increase that bears a relation to the true rate of inflation. Or one that bears a relation to MP's increase in wages and expenses.

rob, derby, rubbish britain

Now, remind me. The last pay rise for MPs. Was it more or less than 2% ? Did they agree to implement it three months after the review date in order to help shore up the public finances?

As has so often been the case with this Government, I'm afraid it's one law for the Governors and one for the governed.

john, Oxford, England

Oh dear. Yet more proof that the Home Secretary really isn't up to the job - she still thinks it's about the amount of money involved. My reading of the situation is that the amount of the pay rise isn't actually the issue - rather, it's the way that the Government has behaved.

To recap: If the police unions and the government can't agree on a pay deal, the matter goes to arbitration. The decision reached there is considered to have the same force as one reached by negotiation. At least it did...until the Government reneged on a quarter of the deal.

The police are now faced with the stark reality that the entire negotiation and arbitration process was a farce: If the Government doesn't like the agreed deal, it will simply impose one it does like. Little wonder that the police are talking about resorting to the one protest that cannot be ignored or worked around - a strike.

Will someone please take the Home Sec. aside and point out that breaking your word is usually a bad idea?

T Barton, Perth,

I could solve the crisis in one! All armed Police Officers choose not to carry a weapon! See how long it would take the Government to cave in!

Graham Palfrey, Littlehampton,

Its interesting that the arbitration pay agreement has been approved for police officers in Scotland. When are the English electorate going to wake up to the fact that our government, who are predominantly ex-communist Scots, are intent upon wrecking England and everything it stands for. Police officers south of the border can rest in the knowledge that the money that they are being denied will assist in providing the Scots with everything for nothing, such as free prescriptions, free nursing care for the elderly, free tuition fees etc etc etc etc etc.

Paul Neale, Coventry, UK

Yet another broken promise from this thoroughly untrustworthy Labour crowd who , after breaking manifesto pledges will think nothing of denying the police their rightful dues. That said, the police enjoy much better pay and conditions than the armed forces , and the latter seem to face greater danger and domestic disruption over lengthy periods of time. Nevertheless, both groups should be looked after by their government bosses.

paul turfery, Cork, Ireland

I note that the most high profile chief officer ie the useless Sir Ian Blair has not made any public comment on this impending crisis.

Perhaps he is too busy trying to persuade the Home Office to pay him his £25000 agreed performance related bonus.

pw, Banstead, Surrey

It is disapointing to note, on the day that Al Quaeda strikes in Algeria, our front line defence against them is being demoralised and lied to by the Home Secretary. She has clearly lost the plot, if indeed she ever understood it to begin with.
Now we are left with reliance upon the ordinary decency and devotion to duty of the average bobby. Labour will happily sacrifice the faith and goodwill of the police and think that they have 'got away with it' when the devotion of some officers prevents an all out strike.
This Government has lost the confidence of the ordinary voters. When will they go? Probably never if they have their way as there is not one honourable man or woman amongst them. They never resign, even when they are caught out red handed. They are without honour, dignity or principle. Worst of all they make their own citizens ashamed.

Riley, Kyiv, Ukraine

They've done this with the Health Service recently as well where a similar recommended 2.5% became an actual 1.9%. Only an offer for the very lowest paid prevented a ballot on industrial action. It has nevertheless damaged morale and for the very same reasons. To add insult to injury, it seems that due to internal errors within the new accounting system, many did not receive their back pay at the expected time and are still waiting.

As with the police, much of the Health Service also relies on goodwill and no Government should take that goodwill for granted nor should they underestimate the effects of it's withdrawal.

Nobody likes to feel that they are being taken advantage of especially those who have dedicated themselves to public service and who expected that the pay review bodies' recommendations would be accepted and implemented.

Keith Miles, Nuneaton,

This is a suggestion to the Police Federation. I believe that the policing of soccer matches is a voluntary duty. So, why not say that no police will be available for the Christmas/New Year matches. Should this happen (or be threatened) no matches could take place. Only the supporters will be inconvenienced (apart, of course, from the clubs) and both would vent their anger on the Government. All other duties would be carried out as normal. Worth a try, isn't it?

Ron Patten, Farnham, Surrey.,

Ken. It's not the fault of the police that there aren't enough officers on the street. That's the government, replacing them with useless plastic PCSO's. They're also not asking for any support from the public.
I sense a bit of hostility towards the police from you,Been arrested by any chance Ken ??

Graham Milner, Worthing,

Sorry, should have been directed at Bernard not Ken

Graham Milner, Worthing,

Can you trust this government? Of course you can.
You can trust it to break its promise if you are a policeman or former Iraqi interpreter.
You can trust it absolutely to be resolute in ignoring the ruling of the Parliamentray Ombudsman and not compensating Equitable Life members overseen by the DTI, Treasury, and FSA
You can trust it to handle sensitive information with all the care and consideration that you would .
You can trust it not to increase income tax and then find every other sly, meddlesome, and inefficient way of trying to shore up Brown's tax and waste poliices.
You can trust it to try to cling to power until the very last moment.
Oh yes; you can trust it.

David, Sevenoaks, Kent

Some of us running small business would be more than happy with 1.9% and all the perks of the job, including just working 40 hours a week; paid overtime; 6 months sick pay in any one year; 21 days annual paid holiday leave and 2 rest days each week.

S Ward, Stockport, Cheshire

I will be voting to reserve the right to strike.
2.5% is poor let alone 1.9% which is an insult; in light of the extra commitment that is expected of officers with regards to homeland security since 9/11. Do members of the public realise when they see Police attired in the nuclear biological and chemical suits complete with respirator, they are looking at local beat officers? Volunteers? Nearly every time you turn on the news, police will be in the headlines, generally receiving praise because a bobby has saved lives without thinking of his/her own first. Whatever the result of this dispute, I now know how the Govt values this countries Police Service .

A TIMMS, Solihull, West Midlands

It's all goes very well for the Labour party when they are throwing billions in other peoples taxes at public services including the police but this is what happens when the gravy-train runs dry.
You cannot buy loyalty from the public sector unless you are prepared to continually pay more. It is a black hole

David Thijm, Stourbridge, UK

Melaragni, your point holds no water what soever, many police who dealt with the miners strike, I was not one but I have worked with many who did, sympathised with the miners, but were doing their duty as we do now. This is all about the government being true to their word and not moving the goalposts. The HS and people on here have said that we don't want to strike, I will take what action is necessary and if that is strike then so be it. She has agreed to arbitration and then stabbed us in the back!! As a job we can not and should not be compared with all public sector workers. As for Ken Wyatt and Neil you really have no idea do you..........

Michael, Poole, Dorset,

The good old government....the reason why the police officers are sat in their offices, filling out access forms, can't attend your call, are understaffed, need I go on?? The police don't make these choices - the government do! The same government that do not have to descency to pay what they agreed to.

The police are the governments dog bodies. They make the rules, the police enforce them. At least they could pay the police for doing their dirty work!!

Anna-Marie, Lancashire,

Nobody really wishes to strike, but I and many other police officers have had enough.

We cant go on strike, yes we have been given higher pay rises than other public sector workers partly for that reason. What the government forgets is that when the prison officers, ambulance service and fire service go on strike we always step into their roles. Perhaps we shouldnt do this in the future !

Tony, London, UK

I believe that the vast majority of Police officers , including myself, have no desire to strike, however a work to rule would be devestating for this Government.
If officers refused to work their days to look after prisoners who cannot be placed in prisons due to lack of space and therefore must be kept in police cells, if they refused to work their days off and extra tours to deal with Public sporting events
, if they refused to work overtime dealing with prisoners in the cells, if they refused to work overtime on Surveilance and Counter Terrorist operations then maybe just maybe the Home Secretary and the minority of the general public who show such disdain for the office of Constable would wake up and realise the importance of our role.

D, Leeds, uk

But why do the Scottish police get the full rise . Surley , that is wrong.

J H WADE, Harrogate, N Yorkshire

With very generous pensions and early retirement, there are probably no serving officers in today's force who so enthusiastically did their 'duty' ,i.e. provide the muscle, to break the miners' strike 22 years ago.

Shame on the police for now wanting their 'right' to withhold their labour for much less grievance than the miners had at that time. Whatever else Scargill was, he was absolutely right about the death of the coal industry as a major employer and builder of communities in this country.

Now the Police Federation is directly involved in the political arena by calling for the Home Secretary's 'immediate resignation': Something Scargill was demonised for with his public aim of trying to bring down the Conservative government..

Melaragni, London,

Realistically police officers don't want to strike, they would not wish to let their communities down in that way. They just want the government to abide by the decision that both parties agreed on at arbitation.

On the one hand the Government said they will accept the 2.5% award, and then they refused to implement it until 3 months after the salary year began. Therefore the award is worth 1.9% this year.

Officers aren't asking for a higher award, they just want the amount agreed at arbitration.

I know that sometimes the general public doesn't support the police. Safety cameras have driven a wedge between officers and the communities they support. Police forces do not get the money from these cameras.

In addition lets just note that £29m has been spent this year to maintain prisoners in police cells because there are inadequate jail cells available.

This represented 97% of the amount needed to pay from award from September.

K Watson, Oxford,

With any luck the police will work to rule and then we'll maybe find out what they do all day.

Adrian, London,

Hmm. For all the people that seem to support the Governments stance on this matter and apparently find it so amusing you should try to walk a mile in my shoes and then see how you'd feel getting shafted.

You're probably just bitter because you got a fixed penalty for urinating in the street to keep the governments detection figures up.

B, South Yorks, UK

If a government breaks its side of an agreement then as far as I would be concerned all bets would be off. When the government and the police agreed to an independent pay review committee in lieu of the right to strike thats a fair understanding. BUT, when a government reneges on the independent recommendation over pay rises then I'd consider that original contract broken and strike action would be justified. In any respect, I'm sure strike action is not needed to get this pig headed & arrogant government to see sense as a simple work to rule should suffice. In Labour speak a deal is only a deal if they agree to it whatever was said previously and they need to taught a hard lesson.

Mike, Alicante, Spain

I thought they'd been on strike for the last 10 years

Ken Wyatt, Todmorden, uk

Oh, permit me to reach for my handkerchief!

It's so, so lamentable!

Here, WE are honoured to witness a more privileged and superior authority than ourselves being forced to get used to their day-to-day mistreatment by an even more privileged and superiorly resourced authority than themselves!

So, officers...

How does it feel to be powerless against the 'oppressures' of those Lording over you (from above) by pressing down (with excessive force?) on your dignity?

How does it feel to be incapable of maintaining self-respect due to the mocking, mishandling and powers of those held to be superior to you?

How does it feel to be mishandled by somebody that you're NOT ALLOWED (BY LAW) TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST, because of their excessive powers over you?

If officers misbehave, I say detain them for Public Order offences!

Shackle them to the current Rule Of Law!

TheGodSplinter, Merseysie, England

Why do so few people understand the damage New Labour has done to the police service after a decade in power? Most of what is unpopular about the police has been forced on officers from the Home Office - PCSOs, time spent doing paperwork, crime detection rates that cause the middle classes to be criminalised and so on. Changes such as these would not have occurred in other industries, because industrial action would have been taken. The police cannot do this, and have little control over changes made to the way they work, no matter how unpopular these changes make them. To force these changes on the police, to make officers ever more unpopular in the eyes of the public, and then to penny-pinch to keep inflation down because of their own financial mismanagement is an absolute disgrace, and I hope officers do vote for the right to strike. The police would never do it, but it would show the country just how much the issue means to us.

Luke, London, UK

HERE IS WHAT OLIVER CROMWELL SAID ABOUT PARLIAMENT... ONE WONDERS WHAT HE WOULD HAVE DONE ABOUT NU LABOUR

In 1653 Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of Great Britain faced a similar situation in the British Parliament of that day. In a speech given to the Rump Parliament before he dissolved it Cromwell said, “ It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defile by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and like Esau sell your country for a mess of potage, and like Judas betray your god for a few pieces of money; is there any single virtue now remaining amongst you? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter’d your conscious for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that care for the good of the commonwealth? Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defil’d this sacred place, and turned the lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? You are grown intolerably odious to the nation, you were put here by the people to get grievance redressed, are you yourself become the greatest grievance. I command ye therefore, upon the peril for your lives, to depart immediately out of this place; go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! Go! Take away that shining bauble there (mace), and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go.(1)

Hugh E Torrance, London, England

This Government needs bringing down for many many reasons. The main one is that its useless. The people that put their lives on the line on a daily basis are treated with contempt in all areas. The troops and the police are the people we run to for help, so I say pay them what they are owed and regarding the troops give them what they need. If you ditch the Olympic stadium it would pay for it!!

Anthony Derbyshire

Anthony Campbell, Hadfield/Glossop, UK

Please note. Police in Scotland will have their pay rise back dated. Yet again prefferential treatment for the Scots.

Cromwell, Leeds, England

Here in Gloucestershire the bill for extra pay shouldn't be too high - we hardly ever see any Police Officers, and very few plastic PCSOs.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

I am a retired senior officer with over 40 years service. Traditionally, the pay settlement for the police was always from 1st. September irrespective of how long the negotiations took. Now the Government, through the Home Secretary, has reneged on that tradition and in so doing risks alienating a large section of the pubic sector (along with their family and friends). How stupid and trivial.

However, there is not likely to be too much sympathy for the police among the general public who will remember the occasions when they have made an emergency call to the police and been told that there were no officers available to help. Not to mention the souring of relations that speed cameras have caused.

One might, however, question how the relatively paltry sum involved compares with the immense cost to the same public purse of the increased pay and allowances and the extremely generous pension settlement that MPs so recently voted themselves.

Bernard James Luckhurst, Eastcote, Pinner, Middlesex

Who do the police seek support from, motorists...er no, not really, people in the street, who are more likely to see a marauding wildebeeste than a police officer, don't think so?
You could always wait until the Home Secretary gets on a tube train.

Ken Wyatt, Todmorden, uk

Opps another nail in the coffin of this untrustworthy, incompetant, corrupt, useless, spineless, lying, cheating government.

I fully support the position of the police officers but ultimately you serve the public and it is certainly not in the public interest for you to go on strike, by all means work to rule, refuse overtime and take whatever other action you can to make your point, but you simply can't strike.

Oh and the other thing is vote for someone different next time round.

anthony, northants,

As an ordinary member of the public, I am disgusted by this.

The Police are not allowed to strike, and the reciprocity of this deal is that they are properly paid. But now we have a Government on its last legs, desperate to make savings wherever it can, and going back on its word (not for the first time).

If the Police go on strike, I just hope that, before the ordinary officers who protect the public go on strike, the units which protect Government ministers go on strike first.

I suspect the Government would cave in after about two minutes.

G Marlow, London, England

As a serving Police officer I am truly disappointed at the Home Secretary's decision regarding our pay rise. We are the only Police Service in Europe not allowed to take industrial action and as our current Government is so obsessed with being a part of the United States of Europe should they not consider that in the near future their standing on this may be overruled and amended along with our National Anthem and Flag as the EU wants.

I am not in favour of Industrial Action as I feel that the if the Police were allowed to do this then we would loose the support of the Public and we would loose a vital element in policing and that is the consent of the public. The fact that Officers Police by consent in this country is one of the key factors in that we do not have Police Officers covering the country carrying firearms and we can still rely on information from the Public and good will at some of our more testing times. I also feel that the RMT’s regular walk outs have caused a change

A Woodman, Bromley, UK